Building Montreux Jazz Festival’s first electronic music club
For Montreux Jazz Festival 2026, Battle Royal Studios helped create Club Duplex, the festival’s first electronic music club and a new platform designed to return in the years ahead.
After winning the creative pitch, BRS led the identity, spatial concept and audience experience for the new multi-level venue. Across 16 days, Club Duplex combined electronic music, immersive show design and three connected brand experiences within one fully functioning nightlife destination.
Commissioned by our dear client and developed in close collaboration with Montreux Jazz Festival and a festival deployment team, Club Duplex had to balance two ambitions: build a credible club that audiences actively wanted to spend time in, while giving the brand a meaningful presence without allowing the space to feel overly branded.
The result was a 1,000-capacity club that ran from 22:00 until 05:00, giving guests different ways to experience, explore and participate throughout the night.
A club first, a brand experience second
The Montreux Jazz Festival audience knows music, so Club Duplex had to earn its place first as an electronic music destination.
The creative approach began with the fundamentals of a real club: a strong identity, an atmospheric dancefloor, flexible live visuals and a spatial journey that supported different ways of experiencing the night. Brand engagement was then integrated into the architecture and audience journey, creating moments of discovery and participation across the venue without interrupting the energy of the club.
Rather than placing activations around a dance floor, BRS designed one connected ecosystem in which nightlife, technology, content and brand experience could coexist.
“The Montreux Jazz Festival project and collaboration was one of the highlights of the year. BRS brought energy, passion, and a strong creative vision throughout the project. Their ownership, attention to detail, and collaborative mindset helped bring ambitious ideas to life. It was a pleasure to collaborate with a team that was so committed to delivering an exceptional consumer and brand experience, and the final result is something we’re truly proud to have been part of together.”
Sara Sabatini
Brand Engagement Marketing Manager, PM International
Framing the night
Club Duplex unfolded across two levels. The lower level housed the main dance floor, while the first floor brought together the activation zones and open-air terrace.
Below, an underground setting created an intimate, basement-like atmosphere, with the DJ positioned between two monumental LED columns. Featuring BRS-produced content, they became the room’s defining visual feature, evolving as each DJ influenced the character of their set while a live media artist synchronised light, motion and content with the music.
At the back of the first floor sat Backstage, a dedicated zone with a window overlooking the DJ booth below. From here, guests could watch the artist framed between the two LED columns, offering a striking new perspective on the performance and the full scale of the club.
Designing for multiple modes of participation
The audience journey supported different levels of engagement. From the collective energy of the dance floor, spaces for music creation, social connection, product discovery and active participation.
Each area performed a distinct role: the main room delivered the core club experience, Backstage became the dedicated music zone for the brand’s collaboration with a globally renowned Swiss electronic music DJ duo, the terrace created space for socialising and product discovery, and the Remix Zone invited guests into an interactive visual experience.
A browser-based digital passport connected all three activation zones, encouraging movement through the venue, and the otherwise distinct brand touchpoints.
A composition built one voice at a time
Located on the upper level behind the DJ booth, Backstage was conceived as the club’s dedicated music zone. A window overlooking the performance offered guests an exclusive perspective onto the DJ below, while the wider space brought to life the brand’s collaboration with the Swiss DJ duo. BRS also led the creative development of this collaboration as part of the wider Swiss Summer Sessions project.
Ahead of the 9 July launch, the space built anticipation through an artist merchandise display and Headline, a major interactive experience conceived and directed by BRS.
Turning every guest into a Headliner
Headline placed guests at the centre of their own major music moment. Conceived by BRS and developed with a specialist media partner, a bespoke AI-powered content system transformed a single guest photograph into personalised moving artwork.
At integrated capture stations, guests took a photo and chose one of three BRS-designed scenarios: performing as the Club Duplex DJ, headlining a Montreux Jazz Festival billboard, or featuring on a full music magazine cover.
The system generated a personalised video for download via QR code and, with consent, display across Backstage’s large LED screens, turning individual participation into part of the shared environment. Headline became one of Club Duplex’s defining interactive experiences.
Opening Mix Your Mix
On 9 July, Backstage transformed again as a wall opened to reveal Mix Your Mix, a consumer remix competition launched alongside the Swiss DJ duo collaboration and their Club Duplex performance.
Using stems from one of their iconic tracks, guests created original remixes through portable mixing stations, with a guided interaction accessible even without previous DJ or production experience.
BRS turned the competition into a physical experience that moved guests from listening to creating. After Club Duplex, Mix Your Mix continued through our client brand’s boutiques across Switzerland as part of Swiss Summer Sessions.
A Remix guests could step inside
The Remix Zone extended remixing beyond music by inviting guests to create a visual composition and then step inside it. BRS developed six original iridescent and holographic pattern presets. Guests combined elements on a large LED screen, then received a QR code linking their design to an adjoining projection booth.
Inside, their pattern filled the space and was projected onto their body. A guided interface invited them to move and dance while the system captured video and photography.
Bringing it to life required an entirely new interactive system. Each guest left with a downloadable video and printed photograph, turning a simple act of selection into something they could create, inhabit and keep.
The terrace: a change of pace
Away from the intensity of the main dance floor, the terrace created an open-air setting for social connection, product discovery and moments of pause.
At its centre stood a custom-built bar, framed by a sunset-gradient glass wall that wrapped the terrace. Sunlight and lake reflections passed through its iridescent surface, filling the space with shifting colour and texture.
The terrace became a destination in its own right, a brighter counterpoint to the club below and a natural transition between experiences.
One digital journey across three physical spaces
A browser-based digital passport connected Club Duplex’s three activation zones. BRS developed the passport concept, participation mechanic, consumer flow and complete visual and UX design of the microsite.
Guests registered, then scanned a dedicated QR code after each activation to collect a digital stamp. Completing all three unlocked Spin to Win on a host’s iPad, with merchandise, complimentary drinks and VIP access among the rewards.
More than a reward mechanic, the passport connected digital interaction with physical participation. It encouraged movement across the venue and turned three distinct brand touchpoints into one connected journey.
Designing through complexity
Club Duplex was created inside a new festival building, meaning the spatial and experience design evolved alongside changing architectural, technical and operational conditions.
BRS continuously tested and adapted the concept to find the strongest solution that balanced club atmosphere, consumer journey, technical feasibility, brand visibility and live festival operation. Delivery required close creative and production coordination across our client, Montreux Jazz Festival, the deployment team and specialist production partners.
BRS led the project from the winning pitch through creative development, technical planning and production, before working alongside the festival deployment team during the live festival period.
The result was a complete club environment designed to operate at scale, evolve across a multi-week programme and establish a foundation for future editions.
Built to return
Club Duplex gave Montreux Jazz Festival a dedicated home for electronic music and PM Switzerland a brand platform that could become part of the festival experience without overpowering it.
Designed from the outset with future editions in mind, the project established a flexible foundation that can evolve through new artists, content, technologies and audience experiences.
For BRS, Club Duplex demonstrates what becomes possible when identity, spatial design, technology, entertainment and brand engagement are considered as one connected experience.
This project was developed for PM International and designed for products within its smoke-free portfolio.
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Credits
- Core team
Brendan Shelper
Co-CEO & Executive Creative Director
Judith Hoch
Co-CEO & Managing Director
Moritz Borchardt
Project/Production Director
Jon Buckels
Associate Creative Director
Stephanie Bassmann
Creative Producer
Nathalie Back
Production Coordination
Stefan Spendier
Creative Media Producer, Content Management and Documentation
Liane Hutterer
Accounting
Michael Masberg
Creative Producer App
Lara Gessner
Graphic Designer
Jesse McCormack
Graphic Designer
Sofia Silva
Graphic Designer
Duncan McDade
Senior Motion Designer
Catalina Figliolia
Head of Spatial Design
Mert Aytac
Senior Architect & Spatial Designer
Maria Melero Cerezo
Spatial Project Manager
Marcus Zumbansen
Photographer - Set Construction & Technical Team
Sven Hügle
VenCo AG / Technical Director
Hannah Zander
VenCo AG / Technical Director Assistant
Chris Moylan
Sunrise Studios / Light Design
Matthias Schöffmann
Sunrise Studios / Light Design
Lars Murasch
Sunrise Studios / Light Design & Operator
Paul Happ
Sunrise Studios / Video Programmer
Benjamin Preuss
Atlantis GmbH & Co. KG / Set Construction & LED Partner
Goran Pajic
SKYNIGHT / Technical Partner
Marko Kosczowsky
Capture Media GmbH / AR Design / Supplier & Immersive Photobooth
Frank Hahn
Rave Space GmbH / App Provider - Deployment Agency
Maurizio Baur
JEFF Zürich AG
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