Tokyo’s Cé la Vi is a new luxury dining, bar and club lounge complex occupying the rooftop floors of the revitalised Tokyu Plaza Shibuya Fukuras shopping mall. With Enter Sandman assigned responsibility for the sound systems, company director Shintaro Dobashi looked to Martin Audio’s specialist ranges.
‘The customer’s request was to connect all three sections of the venue,’ he explains. ‘We had to create a restaurant that could be used commercially or privately – to make it ideal for a cool Tokyo clientele, and a place that lived up to the reputation of the Cé la Vi brand.’
The Cé la Vi marque already has a prominent site on the top floor bar of Singapore’s five-star Marina Bay Sands, with Cé la Vi Tokyo the first concept-imported restaurant in Japan. Patrons are offered a café bar, high-standard dining and drinking areas accompanied by DJ performances in a luxurious space. Or they can come for the spectacular night view in the heart of Tokyo culture.
‘From the outset, we aimed at something with high design, excellent stability and operability, while maintaining optimum quality,’ Dobashi says. ‘As this is a restaurant, not all staff are familiar with audio equipment, and so we embarked on the project with the aim of building an audio set up that is easy and reliable to use by anyone.’
On Shibuya Fukuras’ 17th floor is the Cé la Vi Club Lounge and a casual dining café bar Bao by Cé la Vi, with the Cé la Vi Restaurant & Sky Bar situated on the 18th floor. The Club Lounge floor is dominated by various Martin Audio loudspeakers, with THV and SXH218 models comprising the main system, and CDD15s and SXF115s for side fill, LE100 for DJ monitoring and CDD12s for the VIP room.
‘Club Lounge is fully glazed and customers can overlook the night sky of Shibuya,’ says Dobashi. ‘However, we took care of reflections back from the glass when constructing the system. First, we simulated the sound with Ease/Ease Focus, to ensure the bounce back from the glass was minimised, then placed various loudspeakers accordingly. Carrying out repeated simulations at the design stage, we were able to achieve good process control with less slapback. ‘
The casual dining area, Bao, offers both indoor and additional terrace seating, creating a club-like atmosphere. ‘Because we sometimes hold events in conjunction with Club Lounge on the same floor, we combined Martin Audio C4.8T and C6.8T ceiling speakers, depending on the height. On the terrace seats, we put CDD12 as a main system, with CDD8 on the sides. An SX118 extends the low end, while CDD6 is used in areas where the main system cannot reach. Overall, Martin Audio sound remains unified throughout, including within the club area.’
The Sky Bar on the 18th floor has also been designed with Martin Audio C4.8T and C6.8T ceiling speakers evenly distributed, to avoid any hot spotting or ‘dead’ areas.
‘We had fun to making this project because Cé la Vi recognises the value of good sound and let us have our heads,’ Dobashi says. ‘I always hope to meet the expectations of customers who respect good sound. This time, we made Ease visualisations so we could view the data before introduction – and I am proud of what we have achieved here.
‘In fact, there is no other location where you have such a view of Shibuya.’
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