NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A 29-year-old entrepreneur opens a tech-based, multi-sensory venue, Nightscape, in Nashville's Gulch that can transport visitors around the world with the tap of a button.
"It started about 15 years ago, where I just remember when I was younger, I would go to different places and think, ‘Why is basically every place the same?’ 'Why do we go to a restaurant or bar and they're all great places, but why are they all the same thing and they can't change or can't be something different?'" explained founder and owner Mike Weinberg.
That thought spun Weinberg to dream up many different concepts, ultimately landing on what became Nightscape.
"Nightscape is an entertainment venue that we created that features 360-degree projection mapping, spatial audio, and then we also have customizable lighting throughout the entire venue, that in tandem with physical modular furniture," explained Weinberg. "And then we also have different scent elements that altogether allow us to create these different multi-sensory immersive experiences inside a physical space."
Using their projection and lighting technology, Nightscape can transform a room into anywhere in the world.
"Our Italian villa dining experience is a five-course meal where we have this giant castle that we built. We're going to take you to different rooms inside of it and every room will have a different course. And then, of course, it's the objections moving but we also have the spatial audio we've actually created our own score and environmental sounds that are throughout the space," explained Weinberg. "So you really feel like you're moving within that castle while you're having this elegant, you know, elevated multi-course dining experience."
Other concepts include taking visitors to Tokyo for the city lights, to a garden to smell the cherry blossoms, under the sea to see a stingray up close, or to a gym or course for a sporting event.
"You're actually in this environment, this amazing arena that we built the March Madness, this golf course we've built to the Masters, and then you're watching the game in, you know, giant screens with incredible audio in a really comfortable environment for people to be able to watch it in a way that they really haven't been able to," Weinberg said.
"We're basically creating putting you in a real-life video game. We're developing these real-world experiences that we can control every aspect of it," explained Weinberg. "This isn't just a loop. It's not just simply a video that you're watching. That's playing over and over again, you're in a living breathing space that we can actually move around in. And it's truly, you know, wasn't what I set out to do. I've set out to create really cool experiences for people to socialize and interact. And what we sort of accidentally did was end up pioneering where technology in terms of digital and physical where it's going, which is really, really exciting."
Nightscape was developed over the course of several years but the pandemic gave the concept the extra push to launch.
"And I think that that's important, but there's nothing like seeing and being around people. I think we learned too, in the last couple years, that looking at a screen, you know, it gets tiring and there's something about that human connection, that feeling that you can't explain that you only get when you're in person with other people," Weinberg.
"This is going to hopefully change people's perceptions of what to expect when they go into a space and what can be done," said Weinberg."I just feel so happy that we get to give people an opportunity to experience something that they haven't before."
Nightscape opens to the public in April with its first offering, a Masters Golf Tournament 19th Hole experience for watching the tournament. Tickets for that offering and future ones are found on its website.
