Darwish Technology installs Lusail Sports Hall
Published: MEA
QATAR: Darwish Technology has completed the full audiovisual installation of the Lusail Multipurpose Sports Hall. The project saw Darwish Technology cover the public address and evacuation system for the public areas, professional sound system for the main arena, as well as the LED video walls and score boards.
‘Darwish Technology started with the project at end of 2013 where we started the submittal phase,’ said a representative from Darwish Technology. ‘During this stage, a lot of engineering and redesign work was executed to enhance the overall requested systems, and especially for the sound system of the main seating bowl.’
The audio installation for the hall can be divided into three distinct solutions. The public address and evacuation system was designed by Darwish Technology to meet the client requirements as well as gain the civil defence department approval for being used for evacuation as well.
It features over 1,600 Electro-Voice Evid C8.2 and C8.2 HC ceiling speakers. Added to this in the main public areas are more than 300 Bosch horn speakers and 200 Bose DS40SE wall mount speakers. While 50 Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC8R speakers cover the back of house and concourse. Completing the speaker installation, 500 Bose Freespace 360P cover the outside space. Electro-Voice NetMax processors have been installed in the 12 IDF rooms distributed around the venue and offer full integration with the life safety interface from Dynacord.
The second portion of the project provided A/V equipment for the various meeting rooms. The hall has a briefing room, five meeting rooms, a conference room and interview rooms which each shared a common setup. Each room features Cisco video conferencing, interpretation systems from DIS, control from AMX and professional displays from Sharp.
Perhaps the most eye-catching part of the project has been the main arena sound system. Here Darwish Technology called on Meyer Sound to cover the 15,300 seat venue. The installed solution features 100 Mica cabinets, 80 JM1P, 28 1100 LFC, four 600HP and is processed by 12 Galileo units.
‘The system was designed and installed in separate levels in order to have complete coverage for the arena and seating areas,’ explained the representative. ‘Twenty-four line arrays were installed on the catwalk, and another eight arrays were installed on a separate hoisted truss at a lower level to be able to cover the front seating area. A separate complementary portable sound system was also supplied to be used during live events to add more power to the system to be able to provide concert mode output.’ Both the installed and the portable sound systems are supported by a Sennheiser Digital 9000 wireless microphone system.
Darwish Technology also managed the visual side of the installation, calling on Tecnovision for the LED scoreboards and video walls. ‘The main arena was equipped with a unique central hung scoreboard consisting of a single eight-face screen and a further four-face screen mounted on a custom made hoist system in the aim of having the scoreboard used at different heights depending on the type of event being hosted in the venue,’ the representative noted. There are also two lateral scoreboards at the top of the seating area and LED video banners. Outside the main arena, large LED video walls cover public entrance stairways as well as the VIP entrance.
There were two main challenges for the project. ‘It was quite a challenge to prepare a design able to meet the client requirements for this type of venue and at the same time to meet the STI requirement to have an NFPA compliant system,’ said the representative. ‘The Lusail Multipurpose Sports Hall was a fast track project that uses the most advanced technologies in the world and it was a challenge for our team to execute this flagship project in a very short time, as the handover date was not flexible due to the first main event hosted there, the 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship.’
Following the conclusion of this first main event, Darwish Technology is happy to state: ‘The Handball World Championship was a success at all levels and we are glad to have provided a unique visual and sound experience to all spectators in this venue. We are very happy with the end result delivered to Lusail Multipurpose Hall and we are proud to have been a part of this one-of-a-kind project.’