Club - Tech

We found a large, defunct industrial warehouse in the old mill district in central Mumbai, and wanted to convert it into a complex of sound recording studios and an acoustically outstanding live music club. The club needed to provide musicians and audiences with a superb auditory experience while also accommodating fine dining, drinking and dancing space.

Several firms pitched ideas to us, but Contemporary Urban Design, Mumbai — led by architect Kapil Gupta — won our hearts (and the project). Their design strategy was to functionally blend the acoustic, spatial and performative characteristics of a traditional opera house with the demands of a full-fledged restaurant and bar while preserving the structural beauty of the old warehouse.

Critical performative demands on the design were clear sight lines from seated diners and patrons standing at the bar to the stage, given how crowded the lounge would be over weekends and popular performances. The design resolved this by using a “raked” section, which allows the eye level of diners and standing patrons to be distributed across staggered platforms that increase in height away from the stage.

A grid of circular, mahogany-panelled dining “pods” occupy these platforms and seat between 4-10 people. Their geometric outlay maintains uninterrupted views of the stage as well as a comfortable distance between diners irrespective of how crowded the rest of the club gets. A gently undulating, glowing acrylic resin surface over the pods retains the presence of the architecture amidst a state-of-the-art sound and light show at Blue Frog.

The elevated pods are arranged, amphitheatre-style, around a large circular floor that can accommodate standing/dancing patrons; the floor can also function as a 360 degree stage for performances requiring an intimate viewing experience. At one end of the floor is a large, raised stage for main performances.

Visual coherence is established by the propagation and repetition of the circular grid as a design language across a host of details, from dimpled acoustic panels on the walls to the back-bar display.

Poor audio quality in public spaces is undoubtedly a nuisance, but garbled music in what’s supposedly an ‘audio environment’ is just plain unacceptable. Most club designers get away with using multiple sound sources while disregarding the geometry and materials of the space. As a result, the sound reflects off surfaces, producing reverberation that makes everything louder (including unwanted noise). This explains the ringing in your ears the morning after.

Not at Blue Frog, though. We got the guys at Munro Acoustics to design a high-quality sound system specifically meant for live performances. All the geometry and cladding of the interior design ensure superb sonic response. The club’s walls, ceiling and seating are treated with broadband acoustic absorbers to reduce unwanted ambient noise, and the back wall of the stage is treated with a precisely tuned, wide-range acoustic absorber to enhance the performance experience for musicians.

That’s not all. Our air-conditioning system is fitted with jet diffusers so that air flows freely, minimizing noise from forced air. Newly launched L-Acoustics coaxial speakers and intelligent amplification capable of delivering the perfect energy output are the basis of our sound system; the FOH (Front of House) comprises the latest equipment controlling state-of-the-art visual and lighting display technology. We’ve preserved the original warehouse’s north lights to provide a visual art space in the form of projections.

The end result is a lush, opulent sensory experience that will blow away your head, heart and soul, but not your ears.

About Munro: Munro Acoustics (UK) is an international consultancy headed by acoustics guru Andy Munro. They’ve been doing custom acoustic design for over a quarter of a century, and have maintained their edge by evolving technically and commercially with the rapid changes in the sound industry. Their clients include some of the most successful names in film, music and television production.