LUME Studios FAQ: Inside the Space, the System, and How We Actually Work

Dotan always says the best way to understand what we do at LUME Studios is to come in and see the space for yourself. But before you do, here are the real answers to the questions we get asked most.

The Walkthrough

What does a walkthrough at LUME actually look like?

When you come in, we take you through every aspect of the space in sequence. You enter through the storefront entrance and immediately see the marquee. From there we show you the immersive system running, explain how it operates, walk you through the different studios and their functionality across all five levels, and finish by taking you up to the fourth floor to experience the private kitchen and dining area.

Photos and videos genuinely do not do justice to what it feels like to be inside the space when the system is running. Every client we have ever brought in has had the same reaction: their eyes light up the moment they step into the immersive room, because they finally understand what we mean. You can feel it in a way that no screen can replicate.

How do I book a walkthrough?

Email hello@lumestudios.com or call (212) 203-3732. Walkthroughs are free and available any week. We respond within one business day.

The Immersive System

What makes the LUME system different from other venues that claim 360-degree projection?

What makes our system special is that we found a way to combine and map together 16 projectors, lighting, sound, and equipment to work in tandem as a single unified environment. This is an extremely complex system. It requires ongoing maintenance and regular testing to make sure every component is connected and calibrated correctly. This is not for the faint of heart, and it is not something you build overnight.

Dotan built the system from scratch starting in 2016 working in Resolume Arena, TouchDesigner, Max MSP, and computer vision, and it has been continuously refined over the past decade. The difference between our system and a venue with one projector on one wall is not a matter of degree. It is a fundamentally different product.

What consistently surprises people when they see the system running?

Most clients come in having seen projection mapping in videos and assume they know what to expect. What surprises even technically sophisticated visitors is the scale and coherence of the full environment live. Every surface responds. The audio, lighting, and visuals are programmed to work together as one system rather than three separate elements running in parallel. The moment a client realizes that what they are standing inside was built entirely in-house by our team for their specific brief is usually the moment the conversation changes completely.

Brand Assets

What format do you need brand assets in?

We can accept MOV, MP4, JPEG, PNG, and most standard formats. More importantly, we can build immersive environments from almost anything. We have such a wide range of skill sets and tools that we can create something extraordinary from very little, even from just a brief with no assets at all.

What happens if a brand comes to you with nothing?

One of our greatest strengths is that we can take a client who has no assets whatsoever and build everything from scratch. Our process starts with storyboarding and brainstorming. We develop ideas and create scenes for each section and segment of the night. Each segment might be 30 minutes to an hour. We find ways to build interactivity and engagement into those moments. The entire visual world for the event gets built by our in-house creative team using TouchDesigner and Max MSP, from concept through to final calibrated content running on all 16 projectors.

Preparation and Load-In

What does the day before an event look like?

The day before any event is a dedicated prep day. We work through all of our checklists to ensure a smooth load-in, setup, and full production on event day. The reason we are so disciplined about this is that events rely on multiple variables and things can change at the last minute. Dotan is very strict about fulfilling as much as possible before the event date. We want to be early, not late, when it comes to hitting our marks.

What is the load-in situation at 393 Broadway?

Load-in is fairly straightforward. Commercial vehicles can park on the street from 7am to 7pm, and quick loads during this window happen at no cost. There is an elevator on the right side of the entrance and a storefront door where things can come in directly. There is paid parking around the area and free parking around the block.

We have handled every kind of load-in imaginable, including full build-out fabrications. One of the most complex was the Bai x Sydney Sweeney activation. That took two full days. We brought in fake grass, real plants, food, and built wood structures on day one to hold everything up. Then we stretched projection-mapping fabric across those structures to create the effect of a full waterfall happening inside the space. It was a massive undertaking that took enormous energy from the entire team.

The Marquee

What is the LUME marquee?

The marquee is our storefront sign, very much like a classic movie theater marquee. We love to play with the idea of sending a statement out to the world. It has been used in so many different ways by so many different brands and events that you have probably seen it all over Instagram without realizing it was ours. The marquee is one of the features of 393 Broadway that guests and passersby always notice and comment on. It is one of the things that makes this specific address feel different from anywhere else in New York City.

The Space

What are the things about 393 Broadway that guests always notice?

A handful of things stand out consistently. The marquee outside. The fully immersive main floor and lounge. The private kitchen and dining room on the fourth floor. And the sense that everything in the space was built by hand over 10 years and is continuously being refined. This is not a venue that someone designed and left static. It is a living space that gets better every year.

Has LUME ever taken over the entire building?

Yes, and it is one of the most ambitious things we do. We have taken over the entire building for full art fairs and festivals, most notably during NFT NYC, which is a major digital art fair that happens in New York City. During those events the entire building turned into one unified festival. Every floor had a different style of art, different performances, food, interactive art, AI art, digital art, physical art, painting. These events were extremely demanding and required enormous preparation, staffing, and security to execute. But they are proof of what this space is capable of when we fully commit to a vision. To learn more, look up Subjective Art Fair.

The Team

Who are the people behind LUME Studios?

The entire team is made up of musicians, DJs, digital artists, and creators. There is a deep appreciation for the arts built into how everyone here thinks and works. We have fostered art exhibitions, galleries, and shows through our in-house events program for years.

Dotan has decades of experience across music and sound equipment, immersive projection mapping and software, lighting design, sound design, video editing, filmmaking, and community building. Some of our staff are digital artists who know their way around video production software and After Effects. We are very much in tune with where technology is going and love experimenting with it early. We were experimenting with Stable Diffusion when it first came out.

The Agency Side

Is LUME Studios just a venue?

No. This is one of the most important things to understand about what we do. We are not just a venue. We are a full-service agency. Because of our long experience and over 1,600 events, we can take a client from end to end. That means if a client does not love our location, we can help them source another space. We can take them from concept to ideation, venue sourcing, vendor sourcing, production elements, lighting, sound, photo and video production. We have most of this in house, and when we cannot do something ourselves we know exactly who to bring in.

Come see the space for yourself. Book a free walkthrough.

Email: hello@lumestudios.com or call (212) 203-3732