Offering arguably some of the best views of any of the city’s hotels, Treehouse London occupies the site of the former Saint Georges hotel on Langham Place. It combines interior design through ‘the optimistic lens of childhood’ with a sustainable ethic and some food and drink options. Opened in October 2019, the hotel quickly closed its doors again in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, 18 months later as the world makes a cautious return to normality, Treehouse London is open again to guests.
The bar and restaurant that occupy the entirety of the 15th and 16th floors of the venue feature a KV2 Audio sound system installed by specialist A/V integrator Promotiontime NE. Company owner and MD, Brian Graham, was tasked with providing a sound system that could deliver exceptional audio both as a background music system for daytime use, yet would perform equally well as a nighttime system when the DJ arrived to ‘party up’ the atmosphere.
‘As part of the decision process, we visited other KV2 installations with Treehouse London’s MD Ayo Akinsete and his team so they could listen to the products we were proposing,’ Graham says. ‘Usually, most of our client demonstrations tend to focus on how hard the products can be driven while maintaining audio integrity – in other words, how loud can you go – but Ayo and his team were just as focused on the low level background music experience. Ayo was keen to hear the system at its quiestest, putting himself in the place of guests during a breakfast serving, for example.
‘This is where the KV2 product range excels,’ he continues. ‘The efficiency and detail delivered by KV2 loudspeakers means that they sound warm and defined at low levels – you can hear every note with exceptional clarity – and they lose absolutely nothing as the volume increases. You can still hear all of the detail that makes for an exceptionally comfortable listening experience, even at high levels. The demonstrations quickly assured the Treehouse team that KV2 was the right solution for their project.’
Prior to making the decision to go with KV2, Treehouse had received an alternative specification from an international brand whose products are already in other Treehouse sites. ‘When I saw the design, it was immediately clear that by switching to KV2 we could both reduce the number of boxes required to cover the space and yet significantly increase intelligibility as a result of using fewer sources,’ notes Graham. ‘It was a bit of a no-brainer, really.’
Treehouse’s 15th floor Madera restaurant is a fusion between elevated Mexican cuisine and experiential dining. Active during the day, it’s primed to hit another gear at night – as the sun goes down, so do the lights, but the volume goes up as the energy level rises. Graham selected a combination of KV2’s signature active EX Series – three compact EX6s and twelve more powerful yet still extremely compact EX10s – supplemented by a pair of compact, EX1.5 subwoofers and six ESD 1.10 passive subwoofers powered by a pair of ESP2000 amplifiers. A second restaurant area is served by a further four EX6s, five EX10s, six ESD1.10 subwoofers and an ESP2000 amplifier.
Up another floor, and guests find themselves in the Nest, a rooftop bar filled with foliage and natural materials wreathed by a wraparound outdoor terrace commanding views over London. The atmosphere is designed to be fun and relaxing during the day and energising at night. Here, Graham opted for six EX10s supplemented by a pair of EX1.2s and a further pair of EX1.5 subwoofers that will help the DJ keep energy levels high well into the night. The outdoor terrance is served by a fully weatherproofed ESD system based on 14 ESD5 low profile loudspeakers driven by a pair of ESP2000s.
Additional EX6s can be found the reception areas and function rooms found on both floors.
‘The combination of EX and ESD products delivered the clarity, output and definition required in a pleasingly compact and discreet format,’ observes Graham in conclusion. ‘Part of the brief was that the system have as little visual impact as possible, so most of it is flown – even the subs – and largely hidden amongst the leafy décor. The client is thrilled with the results, and we hope to be able to roll out the concept on future sites.’
More: www.kv2audio.com
