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Combining the characteristic blend of swankiness and urban grit of Manhattan's Lower East Side, the new Thompson LES Hotel towers over the formerly desolate Allen Street and has created a new attraction in the area.
The chic, dimly lit interiors demand a refined soundtrack to provide the right atmosphere for the hotel's guests, along with the local New Yorker patrons of the top-notch Shang Restaurant and Thompson LES' various bars and lounges.
Enter Essential Communications, which outfitted the hotels public areas, seventh floor "Above Allen" bar, a 2nd floor rooftop pool bar, and restaurant Shang with sound systems built to reflect and enhance the ambience.
"This project presented a very challenging architectural situation," recalls David Schwartz, president of Essential Communications. "The client wanted to be able to get pumping music into the various spaces. But the interior design consisted of several different types of hard surfaces--concrete and wood primarily."
This was a particular concern at Shang, famed Chef Susur Lee's first American restaurant. The intimacy wrought by the plush banquette seating and low ceilings would be less cozy if the space was overly reverberant acoustically. In a move to deaden the space so that both the music and patrons' conversations sounded better, an acoustical material was applied to the ceiling in the restaurant.
"The acoustical treatment worked wonders," Schwartz says, but he advises that other venues take similar considerations when designing a space. "The problem with a lot of these places is they don't consider acoustics and then they think they can make it up with sound. The fact is, you could put a million dollars' worth of audio equipment into a bad sounding room, and it's still gonna sound bad. But if you acoustically treat the room you can spend a whole lot less money and get a better sounding room. The music sounds better, and people can actually speak to one another."
With the acoustics under control, Schwartz worked with Shang's general manager, Howard Kuo, to outfit the restaurant with sound. The result was stunning, and not a moment too soon, as Shang hosted a very significant party right after the hotel opened its doors. "I've worked with David for several years now," Kuo commented, "and no matter what the circumstances, he always makes it happen."
Some more consideration was made to the ceiling in the bar outside of Shang--there unobtrusive speakers were integrated into modernist horizontal wood slats running the length of the space. So the room sounds great and looks sleek.
Schwartz also outfitted the rooftop terrace bar, Above Allen, with a sound system that can handle DJs or music playback. In this space, Schwartz faced more architectural challenges, including glass windows and some strict architectural requirements for speaker placement. The end result was worth the struggle, as Above Allen has a great vibe.
The rooftop pool, with an iconic image of Andy Warhol printed on the bottom, required more customized audio treatment, which Schwartz was happy to provide. "The whole hotel has a very modern vibe, and the clientele have a high level of appreciation for good music," Schwartz noted. "The music system we brought to the space meets those expectations without interfering with the aesthetics of the interior design and architecture."
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