Magnet House

Whether you knew it as Capitol, Globe or Pinocchio’s, 393 Murray Street reopened as Magnet House with one brief from its owners: create the most unique atmospheric nightlife experience in Australia. Technical Alliance was the design and production house charged with realising it.

The kinetic ceiling

The venue is home to Australia’s first pixel kinetic ceiling: a 54-piece floating triangle rig hoisted by 162 individually controlled motors, paired with 240,000 addressable LED pixels and 34 square metres of LED display. Tessellating triangles choreographed into waves, domes that form and shatter overhead - the rig moves as part of the show. The engineering behind it has its own record.

Every surface speaks the language

The system does not stop at the ceiling. Pixel-mapped stairs, bars, mirrors and channels follow the building’s contours, linked and controlled as one instrument by the in-house VJ - and the awning outside carries pixel strip, so the queue is inside the experience before the door.

Design and delivery

Our lead designer Sean Lenihan worked closely with interior designer Bryan Ho (BHO Interiors), with Northerly as builder. The Technical Alliance team on site ran from carpenters and electronic technicians to engineers, project managers and lighting designers - design, assembly, installation and commissioning as one accountable scope.

The reception

Industry magazine ALIA called the result “a new take on Australian nightlife”. A single phone-shot walkthrough posted after opening reached 100,000 views within days, and the club ran queues around the block three nights a week.