From restaurant to club: Maison Bâtard opens its doors with audio EAW

Very Group has integrated a complete sound system into the new Maison Bâtard restaurant and nightclub. Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) what, deeply integrated into the architectural design, can be deployed both to provide background music for dinners and for evening entertainment.

Located in the heart of Melbourne, Bastard House spans four floors: the main floors of the restaurant, intimate basement supper club, The Club, and the rooftop restaurant and bar space, The Terrace. To satisfy the demands of each of these spaces, Very Group design, model, developed and delivered a bespoke, high-performance system that allows each space to function independently or together, offering a cohesive audio experience throughout the venue.

The acoustic design of the space is structured around the series MKC of EAW, which is used to provide background music throughout the premises. As explained Stephen Sokolowski, Zelo design director, Its compact speakers “offer excellent sound quality without neglecting a solid value proposition.”, an important factor for hospitality environments that require both performance and scalability”.

The Club, located in the basement, It was conceived as a versatile performance space, Compatible with both DJ sets and live bands: "For example, during the inauguration, there were opera singers performing all over the place, but the system is designed to adapt just as easily to live band or DJ performances. Each floor has its own subwoofer reinforcement, which effectively creates multiple action zones throughout the building.”.

A consistent sound experience throughout the building

Offering powerful sound without altering the elegant interior design of the premises was the main challenge of the project in Bastard House: “The finishes of the Lucas Restaurants premises are very high-end, and the architects, in general, they don't want to see speakers. Most subwoofers are built into finishes or hidden behind architectural elements. The speakers themselves have been chromatically adapted to the surrounding surfaces, which required physically disassembling them, paint the components and reassemble them to achieve perfect visual harmony”, explains the Zelo Group engineer.

To achieve this level of integration, The integrator carried out a comprehensive building information modeling (BIM) y acoustic simulations during the design process. The team spent nearly a year perfecting the system layout before installation began: “We model the entire venue in 3D before installing anything. Using EAW Resolution software along with other acoustic modeling tools, we validate the location, the number and performance of speakers. This allowed us to demonstrate to the client how design changes, how to relocate a speaker or remove a subwoofer, would affect the system as a whole.”. In addition to simulation, Zelo Group also conducted real-world listening demos to ensure the speakers chosen met customer expectations..

Unlike the traditional contractor model, Zelo Group operates as specialized technology partner in hospitality. Your long-term relationship with Lucas Restaurants, spanning more than a decade, reflects this collaborative and lifecycle-oriented approach.