Purple Moon is not only one of Michigan’s hottest nightspots but one of the country’s best-designed clubs. Just ask Club Systems International magazine who have nominated the club for The Club World Awards –Best Interior Design.

A state-of-the-art light show and sound system combine with tasteful architectural lighting touches to make Purple Moon both sophisticated and stylish. Located in Flint, Michigan, the 900 capacity venue has experienced a complete metamorphosis from family restaurant to chic club.

Assembling the team
Owner Francois Farah initiated the project, which was a number of years in the making. Having visited the Nightclub and Bar exhibition several times on a fact finding mission, Francois eventually decided on a Martin Total Club Supplier package. “Besides being excellent equipment with good support, I think Martin and the Total Club Supplier concept has added an international dimension to the project,” he comments.

Careful not to recreate the often impersonal feel of a superclub, Francois wanted an intimate yet open feel to Purple Moon. “I wanted to create intimacy with sexual appeal,” he states. “I wanted to create an intimate space with sex appeal where people could easily move from one area to the next.”

Francois assembled a team to help make the dream a reality. That team included Martin’s Dave Chesal, who assisted Francois with the lighting and sound solution. Dave also introduced him to designer Lynn Hastings and lighting programmer Peter Moore of Lightspeed Productions. Francois comments, “Although we collectively brainstormed the design, it is really the brainchild of Lynn Hastings.”

Interior design by Lynn Hastings
Given a large amount of artistic freedom, Interior Designer Lynn Hastings created an exceptional space. Purple Moon is a lush space of multiple rooms all tied together in a continuous flow from one area to the next, “one experience” as he describes it. Lynn created a look that is “minimal” but that plays with interior architectural planes and lighting. “These planes, based on their shape and as part of the design, result in different intensities of light and shadow throughout the space,” he explains.

Lynn worked with the space, a very architectural environment with a low ceiling, sculptural details and multiple soffits, to achieve the desired look. “I didn’t want a carnival of lighting effect,” he explains “but a visual continuation through the environment area to area. The design evolved from one concept point and from that we created a total idea of what was to be achieved.” Walls are of iridescent material, making them active planes of color, with light playing on these fabric surfaces also of wood, steel, chrome and glass. “We can use different color schemes or turn the entire space all one color if we want to,” Lynn says.

He continues, “I wanted to create a design where architecture and lighting are complementary. The energy is really centered on the dance floor with more subtle elements in the other areas of the club. Industrial elements set the tone over the dance floor for example, with illuminated iridescent panels in the VIP area. I used a specific range of color, more subtle architectural lighting, to accentuate the interior architecture.”

Inside, the club is adorned in tasteful lighting elements that elegantly enhance the space. An example is a keystroke line of concealed stranded sidelight fiber around the reception desk that emphasizes the maple millwork and black granite material.

Layered dance floor lighting
Purple Moon’s dance floor lighting consists of multiple layers of fixtures centered on the dance floor - a mix of scanners, moving heads and effect lights. “A good product mix is essential to creating a variety of levels of animation,” states LD Dave Chesal. “We used a layer of fixtures to ‘breath’ the lightshow meaning we started with moving heads (8 MiniMAC Profiles) in the middle of the dance floor on a circular pipe, then emanate out to the edges of the floor with scanner effects, and then back again to the middle cluster.” Those outer dance floor effects are from Martin MX-4 scanners and Wizard effects. Control is from a PC-based LightJockey located in the DJ booth.

“The building block of any dance floor light show is the color wash on the dance floor itself,” Dave adds. “We did this using 4 Martin MAC 300 wash lights. From there you can make the rest of the lighting effects either complementary or contrasting depending on the effect you want to achieve.”

Color from the dance floor also makes it way over to an adjacent bar. Although it appears that the bar space is outfitted with effect lighting, you’d never know that it isn’t due to the color absorption of the bar’s white maple wood and soffits above.

Stage lighting and sound
Every stage needs a back line of traditional, yet versatile, lighting for live performances comments Dave, and at Purple Moon that back line consists of 8 Martin CX-4 color and pattern changers. And built into the elevated stage itself, in a convenient pull out drawer, is a Jem StageHazer used for midair projection haze.

Four Mach M182i are built into the side of the stage while four Mach Installation Series M129i top boxes, flown horizontally above the dance floor, are tucked tightly into the ceiling so as not to obstruct sight lines. Furthermore, a Mach M-flex 12 serves as a DJ monitor in the DJ booth

Elegant Lounge Area
In the lounge area, focus is centered on a series of full-scale figures depicted photographically with accompanying full width floor to ceiling mirrors placed between them. The mirrors give the illusional effect of opening the room up to other club spaces thus expanding the perceived space of the club. Here Mach Installation Series M82i near field speakers were placed at the top of each mirror while a pair of Mach M151i subs serve as end tables on the floor. Focus shifts to the ceiling where plastic orbs located in ceiling coves are illuminated using FiberSource CMY 150-powered fiber optic.

VIP Area
At the VIP bar area, three titanium-colored MiniMAC Wash were installed to blend in with a décor that includes brushed stainless steel wall panels. The MiniMAC Wash are directed at frosted Plexiglas tables, creating ambient clouds of light that change the color of the tables from Congo blue to magenta to green, bringing the furniture to life. In a fancy bit of marketing that garners the club even more attention, lighting from inside the club radiates through a glass roof over the VIP area, certain to turn heads outside. A pair of Mach M82i are also flown above the area.

Exterior lighting
But all this attraction really begins at the outdoor façade, which is color washed using 2 Martin Exterior 200 color changers located on the ground. The frosted glass Purple Moon corona that graces the entrance is illuminated by stranded sidelight fiber to create a pleasing flower-like corolla effect. Another Martin FiberSource CMY 150 powers the fiber optic.