Vue Ultra Lounge, Dayton, Ohio

Club owner and Ohio Association of Club Executives president Luke Liakos is turning Dayton, Ohio into the club mecca of the American Midwest. Diamonds, Vue and upcoming Masque are a trio of top quality clubs – all owned and operated by Luke - that many larger cities can only dream of.

Luke has recently opened Vue, a South Beach/New York style ultra lounge and the kind of unique yet intimate setting you’d expect to find in a major market. Vue is a top class establishment, an eclectic mix of sophistication and casual style. Rich yet relaxed, elegant yet intimate, Vue’s interior design features the best of both worlds.

Granite bar tops, custom furniture and marble bathrooms mix with more playful aspects like a pool table, cozy fireplaces and multiple plasma screens. An extraordinary ladies lounge features its own sitting area and private ‘women only’ bar. A voyeur restroom complete with a two-way mirror and spy screens let the women look out into the outer bar to see if their men are behaving.

Lighting’s role
Lighting plays a key role in creating the distinctive Vue atmosphere. The thrust of Vue’s lighting is based around a custom-designed 3M light pipe pattern illuminated by Martin Alien 02 full range color mixing lights. Vue is a unique application for light pipe, which is more typically found in architectural applications. “Vue is a very small space and obviously we wanted to do it right,” comments Martin’s Club and Leisure Segment Manager Dave Chesal who along with owner Luke Liakos was responsible for Vue’s lighting design. “We wanted to do something out of the norm. More and more today we see clubs pushing the architectural envelope and making it entertainment lighting. This is architainment lighting at its finest."

Alien 02 powered light pipe
“When I do something, I like to do it right,” comments Luke who’s quickly creating a name for himself not only in the Dayton area but throughout the Midwest. “I saw the light pipe at the LDI show last year and thought it would be something unique, something that nobody had ever seen in a club. The Alien 02’s a great fixture. It has a 6000-hour lamp life, great color mixing and it’s reliable. I’m real pleased with it.”

Light pipe in 8 to 16 foot lengths runs at various angles through the space in a central ceiling relief. The light pipe gives a type of lighting bolt effect and provides both direct and indirect light. “We created a relief in the ceiling, a type of depression that the light pipe runs through,” Dave states. “We used 360-degree view in light pipe so there is direct illumination downwards and reflection up on the white drywall in the ceiling relief. It creates almost endless hues of color and illuminates the majority of the room.” The Alien 02s, low maintenance, powerful profile spots that power the light pipe, are concealed up in the ceiling.

The Vue name
The Vue name is conspicuous and well branded throughout the club, appearing on furniture and wall paneling. In order to further mark the Vue name, MiniMAC Profiles outfitted with custom gobos have been peppered about the room to slowly and randomly project the Vue logo onto walls, floors and furniture. Other lighting includes two zone MR16 track lighting concealed in hidden soffits used to downlight walls, and LED tube lighting liquor tiers behind the bar. Lighting control is from a Martin LightJocky PC. Lighting for Vue was supplied by Worldwide Lighting.

Mach audio
On the audio side, eight Mach M82i top boxes and eight Mach M151i subs provide an evenly distributed sound atmosphere. The primary source for playback is a DJ Power Kiosk Jukebox from which customers request music videos that play through the Mach speakers as well as six 42” Plasma monitors and other smaller monitors in the restrooms.