Bars and restaurants · Glasgow West End

Ka Pao, Glasgow: three-zone audio for a new West End restaurant

Ka Pao was a long time in the making, and Lairds stayed with the client through every delay. We designed and installed a simple, expandable, three-zone audio system for the bar, the dining room and the restrooms, with Gallo Acoustics droplet speakers colour-matched to the interior.

Client

Ka Pao

Site

West End, Glasgow

Scope

Zoned audio design, high-level containment and installation

Zones

Bar, dining room, restrooms

The building

Ka Pao is a new-build restaurant in Glasgow’s West End, created inside an existing building over a long programme that ran into significant delays. Our client needed information, support and a professional service no matter how the dates moved, and that is what Lairds provided, from the first conversation to opening night.

The brief was a simple-to-use, expandable, zoned audio system of the best quality in its category, that would give the owner a distinct difference in level between the bar and the dining areas.

What we designed

The majority of our work was high-level containment, coordinated with the other trades on site so that we stayed ahead and caused no delays of our own. West End parking is a challenge at the best of times; sequencing the work with the electrician and the interior designer was the other.

For the loudspeakers we used Gallo Acoustics droplet speakers, made to order and colour-matched to the room’s décor, on a commercial amplifier set-up from Yamaha. Working with the interior designer and the electrician, we spaced the speakers in three zones to complement the lighting and to give the bar and the dining areas their own levels. Sonance speakers were used in the restrooms, again colour-matched to the finish. Each zone has its own controllers, placed where staff need them.

Ka Pao is one of several bar and restaurant installations Lairds has completed in Glasgow.

From shell to opening night

Ka Pao restaurant, Glasgow West End, from the street

Ka Pao, Glasgow, during the build, before the audio containment went in

Lairds on site at Ka Pao, Glasgow, coordinating with the other trades

The shell of Ka Pao, Glasgow, during construction

Dining tables at Ka Pao, Glasgow, after completion

Booth seating in the dining room at Ka Pao, Glasgow

The bar at Ka Pao, Glasgow, its own audio zone

The open kitchen and dining room at Ka Pao, Glasgow

What we handed over

Three audio zones with their own controllers, so the restaurant has the right level at any time of day or evening, and a system that can be extended as the business grows. Opening night was a success, and we hope Ka Pao becomes and stays a West End fixture.