In addition to the interior, the upgrade involved the exterior lighting design of the hotel that would not only enhance the waterfront skyline but the three-sided pyramid shape of the hotel as well. The close Al Majlis Congress Centre, a secondary lower building with four-sided pyramidal section, needed a complementary lighting scheme. Its smooth, concrete surface proved to be quite difficult to be evenly lit up as the lighting fixtures could only be installed at a very short 4m maximum distance. In addition to the need to not disturb hotel guests, both structures required an even colour distribution along with colour changing scenes.
An assortment of Griven lighting fixtures were used for the exterior. The main façade of the hotel and the waterfront side are now equipped with Griven Powershine MK2 D RGBW, providing a tasteful wash effect. The waterfront side, as well as the lower part of the hotel terrace, have been enhanced by 43 units of Zaphir RGBW with wide and medium optics installed right onto the cornice of the roof.
To complete the design, four units of Globe MK2 7000 CYM colour changing searchlights have been located on the roof of the hotel to sweep the sky of Doha at night. According to different occasions or needs, abstract patterns and various images can be projected on the front side of the concrete arm of the hotel with the help of powerful image projectors, such as Gobostorm Plus MK2 and Zenith.
All the LED fixtures are managed by a Wireless Solution W-DMX system directly from the control room. The DMX signal starts from the control room located on the ground floor of the hotel and is transmitted via six W-DMX WhiteBox F-1 Transceivers to 10 WhiteBox R-512 receivers, managing a total of more than 6 DMX universes. Eight WhiteBox F-2 repeaters are used to connect the fixtures of the Majlis Congress Centre and other areas to the central wireless system.
Signal amplifiers are used to allow the best DMX signal diffusion. Equipment was outfitted with 26 16dBi antennae on a 5.8GHz bandwidth. The entire system is using 5.8GHz per request from the client as the 2.4GHz bandwidth was too heavily saturated and W-DMX is the only company that has the 2.4/5.8GHz Dual Band Function. The entire system was pre-configured at Wireless Solution R&D so the system was basically plug and play for the installation company.
The user-friendly programming system is endowed with an array of different dynamic colour scenes that can be automatically or manually alternated according to festivities, occasions or daily settings.
Danilo Bettinazzi, director of sales & marketing for Griven explained, "A W-DMX system was chosen for this project as it was necessary to manage and control lighting fixtures located in distant places and at a remarkable height. Moreover, the absence of cables and the possibility of controlling more than five DMX universes in a comfortable manner was a plus of the W-DMX system. In consideration of the top urgent completion schedule and of the peculiar architectural design of the Sheraton, all of the companies involved in this challenging project did a very good job."
(Jim Evans)
