Amidst the warehouses which dominate this part of the Lower West Side, a burgeoning bar and club scene continues to develop apace and Powder, on West 16th Street, has stolen the show with its very own brand of style driven clubbing.

Inside, the club is a heady fusion of cutting edge interior design (courtesy of internationally renowned architect Karim Rashid), custom designed sound from JBL and a bespoke lighting scheme from Focus Lighting's Paul Gregory.

The 16,000 square foot venue houses a state of the art photography studio and special events centre as well as nightclub and the challenge was to create a self contained 'hip club environment, energized by large areas of rich, dynamic colour that would reflect and exude the sensuality, glamour and energy of the city'. "We wanted the lighting to support and enhance Karim's architectural design and also play a role in the kinetic environment," says Paul Gregory, principal designer at NYC based Focus Lighting.

In contrast to most dark nightclubs, the unusually light coloured walls of Powder created a unique lighting opportunity. Strips of colour changing wall wash fixtures graze the rear wall forming a spectacular horizon line across the entire space. The result is a vibrant and quite unique nightclub.

The walls of the club are bathed in shifting hues, constantly transforming the look and feel of the space to match the mood and energy of the DJ's music. Leading into the club, the steep entry staircase is lined with strips of pink colour mounted within the rear of each stair tread. A rich amber tone exudes from the mounted mono-points which light the deeply recessed coffers over the bar area. In contrast, the bar itself is simply lit by dimming T8 fluorescents with colour sleeves beaming from below the liquor risers.

The large walls on the second floor gently curve to meet the ceiling, creating the illusion of a seamless, colourful 'sky'. The result, with its graduated fade from ambers, to deep reds, to brilliant blues, offers the perfect backdrop to the club and its clubbers.

Adding yet further dynamism to this rich palette of ambient lighting is an effects lighting package which is made up of products from High End, Clay Paky and Martin Professional. Elsewhere the club's sound system comes courtesy of a JBL based speaker system complete with Crown amplification. Behind the DJ booth, products from Technics, Numark, Pioneer and Allen & Heath offer all the tools needed by the wide variety of top name international DJ talent to which Powder regularly plays host. Powder nightclub is a successful marriage of landmark architecture and innovative lighting, resulting in a unique club space that has proved enormously popular with the people of Manhattan. The success of the club, apart from its prime location which taps perfectly into a cool hungry public, is largely attributed to the collaboration of architecture and light - a factor which Focus Lighting's Paul Gregory believes can form the blueprint for many more clubs of this type: "If the lighting designer can join the design team in the early stages of a project, then there is more of a chance for success - something which is evident in this beautiful space."