The brief
The brief came in from Akana Collective — a Dubai-based agency we partner with — with a very specific request and a very short calendar. A private F1-themed gala dinner for around forty guests, hosted on the pool deck of the W Hotel Barcelona, built around the race weekend, and finished to a standard that any of their Gulf-region clients would expect.
The challenge wasn't the format. We've produced enough gala dinners to know how a forty-cover sit-down works. The challenge was the build. Akana came with a creative direction that called for complex scenographic structures — geometric, F1-inflected, premium-finish — installed on a working pool deck, in operation, with the hotel running normally around us until the moment of service.
We took the brief on a Monday. Concept renders Wednesday. Production drawings signed off Friday. The first truck arrived on site three weeks later. The night ran exactly as designed.
How we built it
Three weeks from greenlight to service. Concept, structural engineering, fabrication, install and live night — managed by a single senior project lead from the first call to the last guest leaving.
A Dubai agency calling Barcelona on a Monday for an F1 gala three weeks out — that's the kind of brief that either works on day one or doesn't work at all. We built it like a small flagship: structural engineering first, finishes second, hospitality last. The night was the easy part.
Eric Pastor
Creative Director, Sugar for Events