Swee Lee Projects reinvents Jakarta’s Riva with MediaMatrix
Published: ASIA
INDONESIA: A famous restaurant within Jakarta’s Parklane Hotel has been reimagined as a lounge and bar following a comprehensive refurbishment of its technical facilities by Swee Lee Projects of Singapore. Named Riva and opened in 1998, the venue was originally based on a French fine dining concept and swiftly became recognised as a landmark destination within the city. In its new guise it now offers a combination of cocktails, coffee and a relaxed daytime ambience that is transformed after-dark with swelling SPLs, live performances and a younger clientele.
‘This is the first time that we’ve completely renovated Riva,’ explained Parklane director of public relations Desiree Merlina. ‘We wanted to have a much higher quality sound system because it’s a very important element in a venue like this – it brings out the atmosphere for our guests. We wanted a younger vibe, attracting not only our existing loyal customers but also a new type of guest. We want them to feel like this place isn’t as it was before but it’s about great music and great sound. I think that’s what we have now.’
Riva now comprises several areas including a seated lounge and casual dining area, the main bar flanked by narrow galley-style seating and an outside courtyard located near to the hotel’s swimming pool. A small stage is also incorporated into the design, facing the lounge and bar. Adding an extra challenge, meanwhile, was the close proximity of guest rooms within the hotel and nearby residential properties.
‘We’re not a disco,’ clarified Ms Merlina, ‘we still have guest rooms two levels above us. Riva is now open later than before, usually until around 1am but for a private party it can go on until 2am or 3am. We are also close to private residents at the back of the hotel – the local community.’ In addition, the hotel’s management required that the loudspeaker installation should be low-profile and unobtrusive while delivering clearly audible coverage.
Swee Lee Projects won the contract to supply and install the audiovisual systems required for the upgrade, which is based around the MediaMatrix Nion and Kiosk2Go HTML 5.0-based audio management and control suite. Kiosk2Go is an extension of the Peavey MediaMatrix nWare audio and control platform, allowing the operations staff independent control of music programming, zone combining and volume for any of Riva's six zones from a supplied iPad or any other smart device with a web browser over Wi-Fi.
Multi-channel MTSi amplifiers have been provided to power the JBL Control 28 series weather-resistant speakers that serve the outdoor courtyard area, while Quad Industrial Qi-Q8 ABS compact and Qi-C6 ceiling speakers serve the lounge, bar and café, entrance and private areas respectively.
The hotel management also wanted the new Riva to be as flexible as possible to support not only background music throughout the different zones but also live entertainment and DJs located on the small stage via integrated mic/line connections. The stage itself boasts an HK Audio Elements system, chosen for its clean line and unobtrusive yet powerful performance. Alternatively DJs can perform outside in the courtyard area or by the swimming pool stage area for larger events.
To accomplish this a streaming audio network has been installed using MediaMatrix nWall 1:1 CobraNet audio and Intelix Digi series twisted pair HDMI video interface panels. Accordingly, audio and video signals can be transmitted to and from the pool stage and courtyard speaker and video projector/screen systems and the indoor stage main systems. Setup and simple control is handled via MediaMatrix nWare Kiosk and Kiosk2Go over Wi-Fi using an iPad.