Brownstone, an exclusive new late-night lounge bar in Bristol's Welshback area, has a versatile lighting control system from Eaton:
Inspired by New York's 'Brownstone' buildings in a trendy residential area of Manhattan, the Bristol Brownstone is a former 17th century warehouse in King Street, one of Bristol's few remaining cobbled streets. Today, its sumptuous furnishings and two VIP lounges include the Krug lounge serving champagne at prices from £140 to £695 per bottle. The interior has been completely gutted, the original stone and brickwork exposed and the space designed to double as an open-plan coffee-house/eating place by day and an exclusive lounge club by night.
The bar is lit by a mixture of low voltage and mains voltage lamps. Different areas have different treatment in terms of both lighting and sound systems; for example the main lounge is designed as a 'chill-out' area with a warm, relaxed ambience; the Krug lounge and the Snug both have more intimate lighting while the dance floor and main bar area have lighting appropriate to these functions.
Simplicity was key:
Robert Cardis of RCE Services of Leeds, the electrical contractor, selected Eaton's Studio 5 lighting control system because just two digital marshalling boxes could supply the entire lighting system and provide the necessary control functions. Each Digital marshalling box is rated 16A and incorporates the control circuits and dimmers for up to nine lighting groups. Control can be by direct 12V control circuits or by radio frequency control.
Brownstone uses a wire-free control system. A simple control panel behind the bar controls the entire lighting system via the digital marshalling boxes. Five different pre-set 'scenes' can be selected: 100% lighting for cleaning; a daytime setting for meetings over coffee or a snack; a more relaxed mid-afternoon setting; an early evening setting and late evening setting. Within each 'zone' the lighting levels can be pre-set for each 'scene'.
The pre-set levels can be overridden from the bar controls to increase or decrease the lighting for each scene. Meanwhile, a 15-channel hand-held remote controller can be used to adjust individual settings.
A 'perfect' system:
"The system is so perfect, we don't normally use the remote control," says Rich Donaldson, Brownstone's proprietor. RCE installed the system and made initial settings, Eaton's Andy Wiles then visited Brownstone and made fine adjustments to commission the system.
Robert Cardis comments on how easy it was to install the Eaton digital marshalling boxes. They are so compact that they could be installed unobtrusively within the open ceiling space. Each box is located close to the load centre for the lighting loads which it serves and a perforated cable tray carries cables and other services to the point of use.
"This approach conforms with the 'warehouse' image, which is part of the décor. However it also has a very functional benefit that future changes to services can be accommodated easily without drilling holes and channelling," says Rich Donaldson.
The picture shows Brownstone, the new late-night lounge bar in Bristol which features a versatile lighting control system from Eaton.
For more information by email, please click HERE.