Organising a high-profile cocktail event is always a balancing act, but when your guest list includes indigenous delegates from around the world as Auckland played host to the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WIPCE), the stakes are even higher.
Our client came to us with a clear vision: to host an unforgettable cocktail evening celebrating diversity, culture, and connection. However, they faced a classic venue challenge. They had selected Shed 10 on Auckland’s waterfront, a venue renowned for its rich history and expansive capacity, but also notorious for its industrial feel, echoey acoustics, and open warehouse interior.
The challenge? How do you transform a bare, industrial shell into a warm, immersive, and culturally vibrant experience that honours every speaker, performer, and guest in the room?
Here is how we brought the vision to life through strategic audio, lighting, and stage production design.
- Replacing Industrial Coldness with Warmth and Colour: A warehouse can easily feel unwelcoming if the lighting isn't layered properly. To remedy this we implemented a comprehensive lighting design:
- Vibrant Pillar Uplighting: We washed Shed 10’s structural wooden pillars and walls with rich magenta, purple, and warm hues. This immediately softened the harsh interior lines, reduced visual dead space, and created an intimate, glowing atmosphere across the entire floor.
- Dynamic Wash Lighting & Patterns: Overhead wash lighting continuously shifted focus throughout the night, from atmospheric ambient textures during networking to sharp spotlighting on the stage during speeches and performances.
- Adding Appeal to the Visual Stage Experience with Dynamic LED Totems: With a diverse lineup featuring formal speeches, traditional cultural dance groups, live bands and DJ, the stage needed to act as a constantly evolving focal point for the evening. Instead of a standard flat backdrop, we deployed vertical LED Totems behind the performers:
- Performance Synergy: The LED totems were programmed to display custom geometric patterns, dynamic textures, and rich colour motion tailored to each performance.
- Visual Depth: Spacing the totems across the back of the stage created depth and energy, ensuring every performer looked backdrop-framed and central to the room.
- Mastering Complex Warehouse Sound: Industrial sheds are difficult sound environments due to high ceilings and hard surfaces that cause reverberation. Delivering crystal-clear audio for spoken-word speeches and punchy, full-bodied sound for a live band required precise audio engineering.
- DAS Line Array Deployment: We deployed our DAS Line Array system to deliver targeted, high-definition sound coverage throughout the venue.
- Clarity Meets Power: By carefully controlling the dispersion of sound, we ensured every speech was crisp and legible to all guests, while providing the band with rich, immersive sound that got everyone on their feet.
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The Outcome
By treating the space as a blank canvas, we turned an industrial warehouse into an inviting, high-energy venue that celebrated culture in every detail. Guests moved seamlessly from formal speeches to energetic traditional performances and a packed dance floor late into the evening.
Planning a Unique Event in a Challenging Space?
Whether you're taking over an industrial warehouse, a outdoor pavilion, or a traditional venue, the right production design makes all the difference.
Get in touch with our team today to talk about bringing your next event to life.
