May 2011 - Illuminating Engineering Society

PARX GRILL
ing stations,” says architect Mark Zwagerman, the hospitality studio
director at KlingStubbins. In addition to its appeal to casino patrons,
the steakhouse has capitalized on a substantial secondary market as
a dining destination for residents of nearby communities.
TAKING CUES FROM THE CASINO
The design team and KlingStubbins’s lighting designer Andrea
Hauber were on a fast-track, six-month design and construction
timetable for the $2.5 million eatery. Empty space within the casino
needed to emerge into a sophisticated restaurant environment
that is open around the clock, with a dining room to seat
135 guests, a small holding/service bar and a private dining room
for 12. “From the gaming floor, we took cues from major elements
such as crystal chandeliers, high-gloss millwork and high-definition
displays, and art glass pieces were reinterpreted for the Grill,”
says Zwagerman. (The casino floor was designed by others.)
“The steakhouse interior is visible from the casino floor without
a front enclosure,” Hauber points out, “so lighting plays a key part
in transitioning the mood from casino to dining enclave, from day to
evening. The juxtaposition of the lighting, the sparkle of ceiling-hung
fixtures, and the combination of cool white on warm white LEDs of the
metal bead curtains provides a variety of moods within the restaurant.”
On both sides of the entry to the space, which is framed by faceted
limestone, is a tall clear glass étagère. On their shelves are
colored art glass pieces commissioned for the project, including
several in the shape of red and amber wine-bottles. Recessed
downlights with 50-W MR16 lamps provide a soft shimmer to the
étagères and their art glass displays.
Adding to the entry’s strong visual identity is a free-standing,
18-ft-high wood screen of canted, overlapping, high-gloss-finish
Silverwood panels. They are uplighted with recessed, in-floor,
grazing wallwashers fitted with 20-W T5 lamps. Directly behind
the panels is a deep-red painted wood entry frame, uplighted
with the same wallwash fixtures. Recessed downlighting within
the frame, which serves as fill lighting for the space, is comprised
of compact 32-W fluorescent fixtures with an integral electronic
dimming ballast. At the dining and entry bar, recessed, 50-W
MR16s provide open downlighting and wallwash illumination.
SHAPES AND WAVES
The main dining room’s stepped, resin ceiling coffers sparkle
with color-changing LEDs and are accented by teardrop-shaped,
Tear-drop shaped pendants and color-changing LEDs light the tables in the
steel beads that appear to float in front of a stone wall. LEDs graze the
patterned glass pendant fixtures. Linear low-profile LEDs, 3 watts
per sq ft, include a dimming module and controls. In the private
dining room beyond, the internally lighted crystal chandelier
echoes the rectangular shape of the table.
An 11-ft-high by 33-ft-long wall formed by five rows of bookmatched
squares of onyx is backlit with cool white LEDs, 9.2-W per
88 May 2011 | LD+A www.ies.org