Mayhem & Escape

Mayhem

WashRooms: Venue showcase

Mayhen & Escape

features, April 2008, COMMENTS

Shea Properties’ recently refurbished Mayhem nightclub in Southend-On-Sea (pictured left) demonstrates the latest in innovative, quirky washroom design. Designed by Mark Hoye of Armfields and Sampson Associates, the toilets do not just serve a purpose, but are visually stimulating environments. Essex Sound & Light (ESL) delivered a constantly colour-changing environment in Mayhem and the bathrooms feature plastic, circular ‘Gloo’ men’s urinals from Philip Watts Design. They are translucent and have colour-changing LEDs inside them. Above each urinal ESL has installed a plasma screen at eye level showing videos and advertisements.

But the most daring concept and a key talking point of the venue is the one-way 1.8m x 2.5m mirror that allows women to view into the men’s bathroom. This is achieved by dimming the light in the ladies and brightening up the men’s toilets, a process that can be switched momentarily and can be time coded via ShowCAD’s Schedule. One of ESL’s predominant effects is the bright 8mm wide surface-mount RGB ‘tape’, which creates a warm glow in the toilets. They have used Lumidrives in the corridor leading to the toilets, with blue uplighters providing a wall wash.

Sampson Associates also designed the bathrooms in Colchester’s Escape nightclub (pictured right), along with ESL, which include a pole dancing practice pole in the ladies. A quirky element in the men’s toilets is the implementation of interactive plasma screens above the urinals that are triggered when a man enters the room to show an animated virtual woman.

From: April 2008

Subscribe to NIGHT magazine

Related Links:

www.sampsonassociates.co.uk

www.essexsoundandlight.co.uk