Over the past 12 months, Elation dealer Fyxx Entertainment ( www.fyxxent.com ) has outfitted several top entertainment venues in Scottsdale, Arizona, with Elation lighting and video systems (Livewire and The District for example), a list that also includes Dakota, a full service restaurant and bar located in the heart of Scottsdale’s thriving Entertainment District.
Dakota is a new build venue that fills a niche in owner Shawn Yari’s string of Scottsdale properties that include Maya Day + Nightclub, The District and the W Scottsdale Hotel. “All of the properties have different niches,” explains Adrian de Pamphilis, owner of Fyxx Entertainment. “Dakota is located next to the W Scottsdale Hotel and is a 24/7 multi-use venue that serves great food morning to night. Customers, often hotel guests, can get their coffee there in the morning, have a business lunch in the afternoon, and enjoy an elegant dinner in the evening. Then when the sun goes down it transforms into more of a club atmosphere with live DJs and bottle and VIP service.”
With so many reasons to visit Dakota and a broad clientele to cater to, the venue required a flexible lighting system that could change with the situation while bringing the venue to life after dark. Fyxx Entertainment was contracted to custom-design a dynamic lighting system with Adrian, Fyxx’s Gabriel de Pamphilis and lighting designer Jason Jones co-designing the lighting scheme.
One need look no further than the venue’s dining tables to sense the multi-use functionality of the space. Conveniently affixed with wheels, each table can be easily rolled away and the space quickly converted to a dance floor. Used to center light the tables when in dining mode are color-changing Platinum Profile LED fixtures, an energy-efficient luminaire that houses framing shutters for more exacting illumination. The fixtures then seamlessly shift into nightclub lighting mode once the tables are cleared, using its movement, colors, graphics and effects possibilities to instantly change the atmosphere from dining decorative to dance floor dynamic.
Mounted in a grid above the dance floor are unique EPV762 moving head LED panels, high-resolution 7.62mm pixel pitch video panels that can rotate just like a moving yoke light fixture. Used for high-res video, graphics and text messages, they sweep effects around the room with a smooth pan/tilt motion that makes them viewable from all sides and every angle. Washing the dance floor in color while providing eye-candy looks and more dance floor energy are Platinum Wash ZFX LED moving heads. The fast moving head splays a host of multi-zone chase and narrow or wide zoom effects that make it the ideal visual LED wash. While top local DJs provide the dance beat from atop a custom DJ booth, mounted within it are Elation award-winning Sniper 2R multi-effects that provide anything from lightning fast scanner effects to mid-air beam looks to laser simulation. Finally, as a tasteful design detail, Elation LED Flex Tape has been used to line the glass shelves of the bar to uplight bottles in decorative color-changing light.
Because of the stiff competition for the night-time dollar, outside visual attraction is a must component in getting noticed and attracting customers in the Entertainment District. The dynamic lighting scheme at Dakota begins at an outdoor patio area visible from the street where Elation Event Bars, 4-head highlighting LED pinspots, are used to uplight trees and the outdoor façade. Then, at another outdoor area, Dakota’s Comoncy Coffee Bar patio, rock columns are uplit using Acclaim ALQ Bar 500 and 1000 linear graze and wash fixtures. All of the outdoor lighting design at Dakota is the work of Fyxx’s Gabriel de Pamphilis while lighting programming for the entire venue was completed by Elation’s Esteban De La Torre-Alva.
Success begets success and Dakota is a good example. After the venue opened its doors last December, client Shawn Yari was so satisfied with the install that he quickly contracted Fyxx for his next project. “The owner was so happy with Dakota and the lighting system there that we immediately began talking about what we could do at The District,” Adrian concludes. “The client was very happy with the way both installs turned out and we were pleased to work together with Elation to realize these projects.”
