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Out of this world: Rota specialises |
Italian interiors expert Italo Rota visited the UAE recently to oversee the design of the Chameleon Club, the ‘out of this world’ new venue which has just opened at the Byblos Hotel in Dubai. He spoke to Liz O’Reilly about his inspiration for the unique colour-changing light fest which mirrors nature’s favourite dragon.
What was the design brief and how have you set out to achieve this?
We set out purely to create a nightclub different to anything else in Dubai, my brief was to let my creativity and imagination run through the project and offer people a place unlike anywhere else, where they come and are mesmerised.
At Chameleon Club, the DJ is the controller of the nightclub, the music, the lighting, the ambience. He is positioned as a master and that is what he is, the conductor of the club. Interestingly this is where my ideas all came from, the chameleon is seen as a dragon, a reptile, something to be scared of but the beautiful creature is actually a loving animal, a cuddly pet even. We wanted to capture the characteristics of the chameleon such as the colour-changing concept and the love for this wonderful creature.
What were the main materials used and where were they sourced?
Materials we used include acrylic, glass, wood, every material you can think of was used somewhere in the Chameleon Club. The materials were sourced from all over the world! The lights were from Greece, the paint from the US, many items were from my native Italy and we sourced as much as we could locally too of course.
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Oh so many things, practically the whole club is custom made! For a start the chameleon is sculpted beautifully and takes pride of place over the bar area. It is 6.5 m by 5.5 m with a tongue that rolls out across the custom-built heart-shaped ceiling. The windows are heart shaped to reflect the symbolic presence of the love for the chameleon. The walls are covered in acrylic boxes that are custom made with LED lights. The whole club has more than 30,000 LED lights and there are 15,000 on the chameleon alone. The washrooms have chameleon lights on the ceiling rather than normal lights; we created a wonderland for the future clubber.
What are the main colour schemes used and do these differ in the different areas of the venue?
The colour scheme is black, green and pink, sophisticated black in the VIP rooms, green for the chameleon and bright pink for the dance floor and a mixture of white and pink in the restaurant.
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Light fantastic: Colour and lighting |
I have had this image for a while of the chameleon and how it changes colour and the significance of such a wonderful thing. This started as my inspiration which has evolved into this fantastic place that is like nowhere else. Your mind will be blown away by the lights, colours and atmosphere. The final outcome is unique and spectacular – like nothing you have ever seen before.
What were the particular challenges of this project and how were these overcome?
The project manager has said that the intricate nature of the design and the elaborate way that we have made the walls bend means this one club was more difficult to build than the whole hotel itself.
Are you working on anything else within the region?
No not in the region. Chameleon has taken two years to create.