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The Dolce & Gabbana of Dubai’s club scene combines state of the art technology with the ultimate in glitzy glamour. By Selin Arkut.
Club Bang is all set to become the most recent addition to a growing collection of exclusive hang-outs in the Downtown Burj Dubai district.
Evolving from the idea that Dubai was missing a certain something in terms of its existing nightlife offering, Mike Duncalf, who was then design director of Orbit Design Studio, teamed up with Omar Rahman, managing director of facilities management company Night Owl, to design the ultimate in exclusive VIP lounge experiences.
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“Club Bang is aimed to be a VIP lounge bar slash club – not your usual scenario but when you walk in you can expect to see extremely nice finishes, expensive prices and even VIP hostesses,” explains Rahman.
“We’re introducing something that hasn’t been done here. Attached to a well-established restaurant chain, Mirai, which provides a new wave of Japanese cuisine, this isn’t just a lounge or a bar or a restaurant; it’s a mixture of all three. Only in the US do you have ultra elite clubs, and that is what was missing in Dubai,” Rahman continues.
“Another selling point is that we’re in the only leasable area in Dubai and so we serve alcohol. This is one of the first times in Dubai that you can go into an area and pop into a bar to have a drink, without stepping foot in a hotel.”
Taking the landlord, Emaar’s regulations into consideration, the pair set to the task of creating a luxury lounge that incorporated Arabian cultural elements with an ultra modern twist.
“Emaar wanted the inside to include some sort of reflection of the outside, so a modern yet traditionally Arabic feel was in order. They were very specific in terms of what they wanted, and there were about twenty to thirty different people vying for this space. That meant that we had to win it on various factors: one, design, two, concept, and three, reputation,” says Rahman.
The main concept of the Club Bang experience is its tiered layout. Using steps, the designers were able to create an effect where the dance floor, at the lowest point of the club, remains visible from anywhere.
“The whole concept was around the idea that we had all these different levels. This involved us raising the floor and the perimeter of the dance area so that every daposition of the club had a great view of the dance floor,” said Duncalf.
“Our main challenge was this concept of height and levels. We raised the floor by three steps on the way in and then we raised the floor again around the perimeter by another two steps. This enabled us to sink the centre of the club.
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