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Stopline

Curno, Italy

Adriano Valoti's Stop-Line complex has finally opened in Curno, Italy, after months of negotiations with local authorties. This 8,000 capacity venue was first reported m WDR in March when building work was completed and interior fittings were well on their way to completion. So why the wait? Stop-Line houses a dozen or so bars, restaurants and cafes which are all leased out to individual operators each holding their own licenses, hence getting the final green light to open Stop-Line was indeed a lengthy process. Was it worth the wait? You bet! This vast complex has broken new ground in design, lighting and sound installation and large scale operation, it is also the first brand new Italian mega-club to be opened for several years. Stop-Line's exterior is without doubt the most unusual I have ever seen, architects Studio Archea have clad the entire building with perforated iron plate which has been left to rust naturally. Light emitting from the perforations give a clue to something other than warehouse within and the entrance bridge over a moat guides customers inside. Once inside the vast interior, white marble floors and pillars contrast with: concrete and wood providing a durable and clean ground level. A giant network of glass and black steel gantries run the length of the club's ceiling. These provide a balcony over the ice rink and the control rooms for lighting, laser and sound.

Behind the Ice rink lies a large dance floor and stage complete with a hydraulic catwalk. Two beautifully designed elevated bars stand either side of the stage giving an excellent vantage point of the ground level restaurants and bars which line the edges of the venue. Studio Archea's ultra-modern design scheme includes suspended plexiglass floors over seas of broken green bottles and exposed chromed air conditioning ducts. A basement floor houses a dance club of around 800 capacity that uses only intelligent lighting.

The discotheque and ice rink share a sound system comprising 24 flown Outline Flyone cabinets, surrounding the dancing/ skating area. Sub woofers, located underneath the stairs are again custom built. The DJ booth, is located centrally with lighting and laser control in the balcony Sound sources are the usual Technics SL1200s with two Pioneer CDJ 500 CD.players. Downstairs in the dance club sound audio comes from 16 Outline digita 3 way speakers and 16 horn loaded Outline Minibass speakers. All background sound comes from Outline's ferrofluid cooled micromonitor Compact One speakers, hidden in the ceiling, providing sound to all areas of the venue including the bars, restaurants, bowling and billiard rooms. Operationally, Stop-Line has a diversity of leisure facilities to entertain all age groups with different themes and styles of music each night. A first floor games area provides bowling, table football and a host of computer machines. Downstairs, the dance club plays up-front dance music, then there's ice skating, with live performances, a cinema, catwalk fashion shows and more. Studio Archea's beautiful and functional high-tech design would also lend itself easily to any form of product launch or corporate entertainment. Having been open only a few months, it's hard to say whether Adriano Valoti's investment has been worthwhile, it will certainly be a long time before such a huge sum sees any return. What Stop-Line does illustrate is that through timeless design and state of the art technology, any form of entertainment can be catered for within one venue.

All lighting was installed by Sangali Technology of Brusaporto. Rawlins, along with Martin Professional's Dave Stewart and laser operator Aldo Visentin have created light and laser shows for each night of the week, tying in with themes and live performances. The combined show of laser graphics and Roboscan gobos projected on the same screen is particularly effective. The laser system comes from UK manufacturer Laser Innovations, who supplied three Coherent Purelight lasers controlled by a Mirage desk. Output is via three fixed scanning heads and one 360' PanScan moving head. All laser equipment was installed by Laser Innovations Italian distributor, Lightco SDF. of Merano. Outline of Brescia provided all sound in Stop- Line, which is split into four individual systems. For the stage, Outline supplied a combination of Topbass, Tophigh and Omnia loudspeakers powered by Outline's amplifiers. A custom designed concrete sub bass system built under the stage is capable of providing 140 dB system. The entire live system is controlled by an Outline Pro 800 Broadcast mixer and a Soundcraft Spirit Live 32 desk. The discoteque and ice nnk share a sound system comprising 24 flown Outline Flyone cabinets, surrounding the dancing/ skating area. Sub woofers, located underneath the stairs are again custom built. The Dj booth, is located centrally with lighting and laser control in the balcony Sound sources are the usual Technics SL1200s with two Pioneer CDJ 500 CD.players.

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