- Client
- Secret Garden Bar & Cafe
- Location
- Williams St, Denver, CO
- Scope
- Restaurant security · Commercial security camera systems · Commercial security
Hospitality work is judged on the room as much as on the system. A camera that draws the eye, or a cable run that does not follow the architecture, reads as a mistake to a guest even when the footage is good.
The Secret Garden Bar and Cafe has a bar, more than one dining area and an enclosed patio. The brief was coverage across all of it, with hardware that disappears.
The installation
The photographs below are from the completed job. They show the camera positions and how each housing sits against the surface it was mounted to.
The installation A low-profile dome against the ceiling at Secret Garden, close to the architecture and out of the guest sight line.
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Hardware that had to stay out of sight
The previous cameras were old, low resolution and visible. They could not resolve a face or a transaction, which is most of what a venue needs a camera for. Guests notice a camera before they notice anything else in a room, and an old housing on a bright ceiling is the first thing the eye finds.
Low-profile dome cameras were chosen so the hardware sits close to the ceiling and follows the room rather than interrupting it. The mountings were placed to work with the beams and the ceiling lines.
WDR between bar light and patio sun
The lighting here changes hard. A dim bar interior and a sunlit patio in the same view will silhouette a person on one side or blow out the other, with a camera that has no dynamic range.
The new domes carry wide dynamic range, so the bar and the patio can both be read. That is the difference between a recording that identifies someone and one that shows a shape. The patio holds detail in daylight and the bar holds detail at night.
Cameras placed around the point of sale
The positions were set by the work, not by the walls. Every point of sale terminal has a camera view that reads the transaction, and the bar and storage areas are covered for stock and cash handling.
The patio is covered for the same reason: it is where guests gather, and where a dispute or a fall is most likely to be reported afterwards. That is also the view that settles the arguments about a bill or a tab.
A wireless access point for the patio
Running cable into the middle of the patio was impractical at this site. It would have meant digging through the seating area or fixing conduit across a surface the venue has to keep presentable.
We used a dedicated wireless access point, hidden in the structure, to bring the patio cameras back to the NVR. The link is separate from the guest network, so the cameras are not sharing a connection with customers.
Work done outside service hours
The installation happened outside service hours, so the venue never opened around a work site. Wiring and mounting were completed between services.
The result is a system the staff can use without thinking about it: recorded video, remote access for management, and cameras that guests do not notice.
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