SimplyAbuDhabi VII

2 9 3 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I T he OMEGA House will host events and provide visitors with an oasis of calm in the heart of London’s Soho district. Located In the heart of Soho. The stunningGeorgian townhouse is located at 1Greek Street across fromSohoSquare. AlongwithOMEGA’s invitedguests, it welcomed a who’s who of Londoners and visitors to the Games. Celebrity guests frequented on both visits we made. The Omega House will also accommodate a number of VIP events and OMEGA ambassador visits throughout the Games. OMEGA has announced that some of its brand ambassadors including Nicole Kidman and golf legend Greg Norman were among the celebrities who participated at events there. Rooms that reflect Omega’s collections The design of the House reflects OMEGA’s most important watch collections. For example, the Ladymatic Room, named for the brand’s stylishmechanical watch for women, is subtly decorated in elegantly classic tones. The Hour Vision Room honours the brand’s Hour Vision line and is furnished in a way that recalls the exclusive clubs that have been part of London’s elite social life for decades. The space themed Speedmaster Room, named after the first watch to be worn on theMoon, is a reminder of OMEGA’s nearly half-century relationship with NASA. The Secret Garden features a large screen television for avid fans, and a chance for guests to relax at the end of the day on comfortable outdoor summer furniturewhilst listening to the cheers for the favourite teams. Simply Abu Dhabi Co-Founder Jordana Lynch caught up with OMEGA President Stephen Urquhart “We are delighted that we were able to secure this historic building in Soho. It is an ideal place to greet old friends and meet new ones in an appealing, comfortable environment. It will also give our guests a chance to re-energize between the events at the Olympic Games and really will be the House of Omega.” THE DESIGNOF OMEGA HOUSE When OMEGA’s designers and decorators first visited the House of St. Barnabas they were struck by the potential offered by the Grade I listed building and its garden. Entrance Hall & The Rooms The rooms in the OMEGA House were decorated to give each its own character and to reflect some of the brand’s best-known product lines. The Artwork Visitors to the house were exposed to a magnificent, bespoke kinetic installation of a diving figure suspended in the double height reception space. It was developed with Laban Movement analysis by artists Wootton &Dawe. The subtle, unique and elegant piece is a nod both to timekeeping and to the athletic rhythms and motion of the Olympic Games. It is not only a fascinating, mesmerising piece of art but an impressive feat of engineering. At the end of the entrance hall corridor is an illuminated porcelain cup clock designed byMartha Freud especially for the OMEGA House. It was made using grids of delicate translucent porcelain cups. The cups are lit fromwithinwith halogen or LEDbulbs and use their light to “speak” inwords or phrases. Some of the cups are able to spin to display different words on different “faces”. The viewer sees the cups rotating, finding their next word. It gives the display a somewhat robotic feel while the intention of the illumination of the words makes it human. The clock displays the time using the words punched into the porcelain cups: “nearly 11 o’clock”; “supper time”; and “just after half past seven”. There is a gentle irony in the fact that while the clock is accurate, it doesn’t divide time into very fine units, unlike the OMEGA timekeepers at the Olympic Games whose results are announced in terms of hundredths of a second. As the artist points out, the clock provides the right amount of detail for a relaxed club environment. The Ladymatic Lounge In the lounge named after OMEGA’s stylish mechanical wristwatch for women, designers have utilized the house’s neutral English Heritage colour palette to devise a scheme that is soft, feminine and elegant. Guests can truly relax and chat in this intimate and luxurious salon. Surfaces are filled with flower clusters and twinkling candlelight. Watch Display in the Ladymatic Lounge Afternoon tea and elegant cocktails are served from a marble resin bar unit next to which there is a unique display of timepieces. On the mantelpiece, the Ladymatic watches are displayed in glass domes together with beautifully crafted silk peonies and porcelain petals. An all white model of The House of St. Barnabas invites curious visitors to peek through the windows at the display inside which features Ladymatic watches and components as well as other curiosities and flowers. The model features miniature working chandeliers and everything inside it is white, inspired by Margiela. The Art in the Ladymatic Lounge The showcased piece in this room is a kinetic flower wall sculpture called ‘Adaptive Bloom’, by artist Justin Goodyer. It interacts with guest movement and is both attention seeking and “intelligent”, so if no one has interacted with it after half an hour, the sculpture creates a pre-programmed random sequence of blooming flowers to attract attention to itself. The Hour Vision Atelier The Hour Vision Lounge draws attention to OMEGA’s fashionable Hour Vision Gents’ Collection and has been conceived as a masculine counterpart to the Ladymatic Lounge. Its rich dark colour palette is designed to work with the heritage colour of the space and the scheme recalls the London clubs which have been such a defining part of the city’s social scene. Within the lounge are examples of the traditional excellence and perfection of watchmaking on display and at certain times guests will have the opportunity to interact with the skilled watchmakers and the fine tools they need to ply their craft. Tom Ford’s stylings and the luxurious feel of Mayfair’s Connaught Hotel inspired the room’s design which is completed with polished lacquer, tailored leathers & engineered details. OMEGA, the Official Timekeeper of the London 2012 Olympic Games, just opened the OMEGAHouse, an exclusive club that is open on a membership and by- invitation basis throughout the Olympic Games.