Heat Ultra Lounge, Anaheim, California

California has always been on the cutting edge and with the opening of Heat Ultra Lounge in Anaheim there is no reason to doubt that reputation.

As Orange County's premiere high profile nightclub, located at the Anaheim Gardenwalk, adjacent to Disneyland and the convention center, Heat Ultra Lounge markets itself as 'The Ultimate Nighttime Destination," and the label holds true. Heat Ultra Lounge is a 13,000 sq ft. space featuring a high class design and multi-million dollar state-of-the-art lighting and sound system that attracts big name DJ's and performers. Its two distinctively different and luxurious areas can be combined to accommodate 850 guests.

Vegas comes to Orange County
The original plan was to open the club in Las Vegas but it was brought to Southern California instead as an Orange County nightclub with a Vegas feel. “All the design elements were geared around that,” says Nikko Hendi, principal of NKDDI, a full service architect design firm that designed the lighting and interior of the club, “basically everything from concept development to the grand opening.”

Nikko describes the Vegas feel as “glamour with curious design elements” like chandeliers, of which there are many in Heat Ultra Lounge (more on that later). Its main room, open only on weekends, serves as a nightclub while a smaller room has more of a lounge feel that caters to weekday crowds with slower beats, both music and lighting.

Heat is more than a nightspot though, and also serves as a special event venue. “We wanted the club to look good during the day as well as night,” Nikko says. “The whole idea behind that were daytime corporate events, which was another reason why we paid close attention to the design details. There are a lot of different areas to the club, and even in the same room there are different design elements.”

The club opened on July 28th with a Martin lighting package speced by NKDDI made up of smartMAC™ profile spots, Mania SCX700™ scanners, and Atomic 3000™ strobes with a multi-headed Jem Hydra™ smoke system providing the atmospheric haze. Lighting control is via a Martin Maxxyz PC™ and Maxxyz Compact™, the first Maxxyz Compact install in the US. Lighting supply and installation was completed by FBP of Las Vegas.

Smart(MAC) venue
Nikko originally planned on using Martin’s MAC 250 Series™ moving heads in the venue, but after speaking with Martin US Regional Sales Director Greg Jones, turned to the new smartMAC™ profile spot instead.
“Going with the smartMACs was a great decision because they are so versatile, just awesome,” Nikko states. “In fact, we did the entire venue with smartMACs. They are so easy to use and the ease of switching out gobos is great. We plan to do some custom gobos for corporate events so that was a big plus. We can just swap them out so easily. The fact that there are no fans in the smartMAC was a great selling point as is their size. They’ve been holding up phenomenally.”

SmartMACs™ are used to cover the entire club in either high energy looks or more decorate effects. Providing the dance dynamism above both the main room and lounge dance floors are smartMACs™ and Atomic 3000™ strobes while more smartMACs™ wash a hallway floor in decorative color wash. In front of the bars, smartMACs™ serve a dual purpose by washing and animating the bar tops and front bar area, as well as highlighting Go-Go dancers. “We have the smartMACs over the dance floors programmed more aggressively while the others are programmed more decorative with slow, calm movements,” Nikko comments.

The venue’s design details themselves add other unique effects. The checkered metallic finish wallpaper for example picks up smartMAC™ color and reflects it so that even the walls appear animated. In another unique look, artistic white trees with freeze dried bouquets of red roses come alive with smartMAC™ color and pattern.

The smartMAC™ is a bright 150 W moving head profile luminaire that offers long service intervals, total silence and reduced power bills thanks to a unique fanless cooling system (no dust and pollutants are forced into the fixture). The smartMAC™ houses eight interchangeable dichroic colors and six interchangeable effects.

Mania attraction
In a highly elegant visual effect, Nikko projects light from several 150 W Martin Mania SCX700™ scanners onto each of the venue’s stately chandeliers. The chandeliers are dimmed to 5-10% and washed in Mania color and effect so that the entire chandelier becomes animated.

“The chandeliers are used as a focal point,” Nikko explains. “There is not a single straight wall in the club so you can’t tell when you leave one space and enter another – it’s all very fluid. But at any point in the club you can see another chandelier and the layout pulls you from space to space without you even knowing.”

Nikko further explains the Mania chandelier attraction: “In the women’s restroom is a special vanity room with mirrors and above that we have a chandelier with the Mania effect on it. The chandelier is visible from inside the club area through a window and guys are always wondering how to get inside that room.”

Also in use in the venue, and appropriately so for a club called Heat, are Martin Mania DC2™ decorative fire effects that emblazon a frosted glass ribbon above the wall that stretches around the club. More Manias illuminate a Go-Go booth behind the main bar that is visible from the entry.

Nikko says that the client loves strobes so there are eight Atomic 3000™ strobes located above the dance floors. For atmospheric effect as well as mid-air canopy haze, a Jem Hydra smoke system with six heads is located over the main room dance floor and gives total flexibility in fog placement. Serviced by a centralized base, each output head can be fired on demand through a full range of outputs - from gentle haze to a dense fog.

Everything’s under (Maxxyz) control
As far as lighting control, Nikko wanted to control both the architectural and entertainment lighting through one console, using touchscreens so that the bartenders could control the lighting themselves. “Greg suggested tying the console to the dimming rack and suggested using the Maxxyz Compact to do that,” Nikko explains. He says that FBP, who did the programming and integration, were in touch with Martin’s Matthias Hinrichs about tying the rack and console together. “The whole idea was for the Maxxyz to tie into the touchscreens behind each bar so it can run the programs back and forth. Every bar has a touchscreen and it works out well.”

Maxxyz Compact™ is Martin’s newest lighting console, offering full Maxxyz functionality in a modular, mid-sized console. A range of stand-alone modules has been developed for the Maxxyz Compact™ that allows for customization around the user and the specific control demands of a show or venue.

“The console is phenomenal and does a lot for its size,” Nikko comments. “It is very user friendly, and considering it is new we have had very few problems with it. As far as price, you can’t beat it. And now with the modules, if we want to expand it, that is no problem.” In the smaller back room, the lighting rig is run from a Martin Maxxyz PC.

Nikko has used Martin lighting on several projects before and is quite satisfied with the Heat Ultra Lounge install. “It’s all holding up great with no problems or issues,” he says. Nikko also acknowledges the Martin support. “Greg Jones was a great support. He went above and beyond the call of duty to help us out, to educate everyone and even helped when approaching the client.”

25 x Martin smartMAC™
30 x Martin Mania SCX700™
10 x Martin Mania DC2™
10 x Martin Atomic 3000™
1 x Jem Hydra™ (6 head)
1 x Martin Maxxyz PC™
1 x Martin Maxxyz Compact™
3 x OLE touch screens for each bar