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inno123

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(Note, there are computer renderings that go with these articles To access them click on my name and select pictures. When viewing one of the renderings you can right click on a picture to download a higher resolution version. I have also updated the original pictures with new materials)<br />
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Review: I have been thinking, some would say way too much, about strip club design and management and designing a sample club as an illustration. The parameters are: 4000sf storefront with 10 ft ceilings, lap dances and VIP allowed but no alcohol. Club can run with as few as 3 non-dancers at slow times. The primary design goal is to maximize opportunities for interaction between dancers and customers and thus sell dances.<br />
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Some clubs seem to go with a color scheme of black on black, with a little shiny black for color. While black has a particularly specialized use in clubs (which I will get to later) I sometimes think that all-black either stems from a lack of imagination or a desire to cover up the obvious flaws in the facility. Black does hide raw surfaces and cracks well. However the black, black and more black just screams of &lsquo;dive bar&rsquo;. Sure your club may BE a dive, but do you have to exaggerate that?<br />
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Sometimes the black-black-black extends to black lights as well. Black lighting may have an exotic feel but it is not relaxing or comfortable. Remember that the entire goal is to make it easy for the dancers to connect emotionally with a guy and get him to buy a private dance. Having the girl glowing unnaturally from her eyeballs, fingernails, teeth, and bikini doesn&rsquo;t seem like the best approach. It also makes it real easy to bump into and trip over things.<br />
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Other clubs go with the red everything approach, presumably to give kind of a lurid feel to the place, but it can become too much on the eyes as well. Still there are worse choices than red. Remember that every surface that is not black is also a light source. The fact that you see a wall as green means that green light is coming off of it. That same green light is also illuminating the dancers as well.<br />
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That was why I picked a warm saddle tan for my example design. It is a color that compliments pretty much the entire range of human skin tones and with selected brass accents and fixtures helps set the tone of the place as classy and relaxed, which is the one best suited to our real goal, which is making guys feel classy and relaxed and comfortable with paying for a private dance from a stripper. The saddle tan also gives the same tone as a lot of wood while only having to pay for paint.<br />
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My first renderings had the floors covered in a deep red pile carpet, but that is hard to install over all the ramps and platforms and would quickly wear out along the traffic patterns. So I switched to woodgrain laminate flooring which has several advantages. However unlike the carpet the laminate flooring does not absorb sound so I included a number of sound absorbing panels on the wall to tame the accoustics.<br />
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Lighting also plays an important role. Clubs in general are dark places for sure as it helps hide flaws in the appearance of the dancers and makes things seem &lsquo;sexy&rsquo;. But light is needed for visibility and many clubs go too far with turning down the illumination, a frequent complaint in reviews here. It quickly suggests a lack of confidence in your dancers. Even in the darkest parts of the club you want about 1 foot-candle, which you might describe as &lsquo;twilight&rsquo; or a typical nighttime illuminated parking lot. By comparison a full moon and no artificial light is about a hundredth of a foot-candle and a typical retail store is 50 footcandles.<br />
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Good lighting balances between two factors. The first is drama, the contrast between bright and dim. Flat lighting is called that for a reason. But taken too far it results in harsh shadows so you also need fill and ambient light. Since we are not painting everything black we can go with indirect light for most of our illumination. Principally on the club floor this is done with wall sconces. These throw indirect light from the wall and ceiling to provide soft even base illumination plus add drama to the wall and ceiling. The second type of illumination in the main seating area is small table lamps. These too provide a more classy ambiance as well as adding some variety and drama to the lighting. They also mean that if you do need to look at something under decent light (like to read a note or sign a credit card slip) there is a pool of light where you can. Finally quite a bit of illumination is reflected light from the stage area.<br />
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The lighting in the club is compact fluorescents in the table lamps and sconces and LEDs on all of the stage and spotlights. They have low energy usage and are naturally narrow beams which. But just as important they give very little heat, which means the dancers won&rsquo;t be sweating under hot lights.<br />
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LED spots are also used in the lap dance and VIP rooms so that they can illuminate dancers while leaving the customer to feel hidden in the shadows.<br />
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There is one more special consideration when it comes to color and lighting. The main club area is intentionally subdued in its lighting (but not as I said as dark as clubs that overdo it) However this means is that during daytime hours if a door to the outside is opened the effect can be quite blinding. Full daylight is about one thousand foot-candles. Yet still people need to enter and leave. How this is solved in a well designed club is with a light lock. Essentially when the door is opened any light coming in from the door has to bounce off of a wall painted flat black before entering the club. Usually this is by having a hall with a turn entirely painted black. I suspect that some clubs just don&rsquo;t know where to stop and wind up with the all-black look.<br />
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The standard in club seating everywhere appears to be the low back curved upholstered lounge chair, and they are included here. The chairs are grouped so to have all the seats at least partially facing toward the stage. There are also a couple of pairs of chars in the front corners of the main lounge which, although their view of the stage is worse they can still be used as a place to talk with a dancer. Rather than booths (which are expensive to build and difficult to maintain) I threw in some two person sofas. These give a real come-sit-with-me mood. The problem with the standard barrel lounge chair is that when a dancer approaches a customer she only has three choices: stand over you (domineering), sit in the chair next to you (distant) or sit in your lap (perhaps a bit to direct and sudden). In the two-person sofa the dancer can sit in the other side from the customer and then, slide closer if things appear to be warming up. Booths also give the option to have the dancer sit next to you but they are not as gracefull to get in and out of as the two person sofa. Having two-person sofa seating available also makes the club more inviting to couples, who are becoming a more frequent occurrence at clubs.<br />
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