When it comes to hotel A/V systems, luxury means powerful and discreet as opposed to big and impressive, as Richard Lawn discovers at the Shangri-La Abu Dhabi Qaryat Al Beri
Abu Dhabi is not only the capital of the United Arab Emirates, but is currently claimed by CNN to be the richest city in the world. The city’s Between the Bridges project is a recently completed 900m stretch of UAE coastline that sits between the Al-Maqtaa and Al Musafah bridges leading onto the island of Abu Dhabi. The centrepiece of Between the Bridges is a 200-room, seven-level, five-star hotel belonging to the prestigious Shangri-La chain, which is expanding its luxury brand throughout Asia and the Middle East.
Visitors to the Shangri-La Abu Dhabi Qaryat Al Beri are greeted by concierge and invited to relax on the pool deck overlooking a white sandy beach with seven waterfront groins, with every effort made to provide comfort and service. With well-equipped business centres and a variety of themed restaurants, business executives and holidaymakers can expect to be pampered in the serene natural surroundings. Among the facilities are conference rooms, a health spa, retail outlets and the beach. Sometimes doing business in Abu Dhabi looks remarkably similar to pursuing pleasure.
Further facilities in the 8.5-hectare complex include Chi, The Spa at Shangri-La, and a dedicated well-being zone comprising two gymnasiums, a swimming pool and a yoga room. A traditional Arabian souk – built in a modern setting – offers a variety of shops under one roof, connected by a waterway featuring Arabic gondolas (abras), which meander through the unique architecture and lush garden scenery.
In terms of accommodation, the Shangri-La Abu Dhabi Qaryat Al Beri offers 214 luxury rooms and suites, and six four-bedroom villas, all elegantly appointed with modern facilities set against Arabian architecture. Aperitifs and post-dinner drinks can be enjoyed either on the pool deck (Al Hanah Bar) or on the third-floor balcony (the lobby lounge), while restaurants range from the authentic Chinese cuisine at Shangri-La’s signature Shang Palace, to the glamorous Bord Eau French restaurant and the Vietnamese Hoi An and Sofra restaurants. At the furthest end of the complex, the Lighthouse restaurant, which is currently being completed on the largest groin stretching farthest into the sea, will offer exquisite cuisine and exceptional views of the island of Abu Dhabi.
The $218m resort development was completed on schedule with Al Jaber Engineering & Contracting (Alec) LLC appointed as head contractor for the entire project through KEO design development consultants and design. ‘This prestigious project represents an important milestone in the development of Abu Dhabi’s tourism sector,’ announced His Excellency Mubarak Al Muhairi, director general of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority. ‘We were delighted to have the Al Jaber Establishment as our partner in this venture and it has raised the bar in terms of hospitality excellence and design superiority in the Emirate. We believe that the hospitality industry in Abu Dhabi is an essential economic building block and, in close cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, this iconic project will add a new dimension of luxury, excellence and service to the Emirates’ tourism sector.’
Specialising in advanced control and automation communication solutions, UAE-based Aesthetix and Emirates Computers have designed, supplied and installed the A/V systems for the hotel’s BGM and conferencing/boardroom facilities. Aesthetix has gained increasing project business in the UAE and Qatar by providing integrated broadcast, A/V, lighting, digital signage, security and control technology solutions, and chose a BSS Audio Soundweb system to provide the heart of the hotel’s systems. Programmed by project manager NS Krishnamoorthy and his team, this forms an audio system with no restrictions on signal path, sub-mixing or object location. Furthermore, changes can be made to the modular set up according to the type of event being held, by recalling a preset, while additional signal processing within the system can be called upon without the need to install further hardware.
A low-cost Cat5 CobraNet network with advanced 96kHz A/D and D/A converters provides dual-redundancy, with a single Soundweb London Blu-80 processor as its main processor. I/O expansion is through a Blu-32, which offers identical connectivity to the Blu-80 but without onboard DSP. Programmed within the London Architect software, the Blu-32 has expanded the I/O simply and at low cost, providing additional inputs and outputs to the audio network. Finally, a Blu-16 stand-alone device (with no audio networking capability) was selected to handle the smaller applications where a 16-input/output count was deemed to be sufficient. All the control options available on a Blu-80 are also available on the Blu-16, including the ability to interface with a Blu-10 programmable controller.
The hotel’s 6m-high main ballroom measures 10m x 18m and can comfortably accommodate 280-seated guests for wedding functions, parties and corporate events. Here, 24 discretely placed JBL Control 24CT ceiling speakers are powered by a single Crown CTs1200 amplifier, providing ample sound reinforcement and BGM for the room. Playback sources include a Denon CD machine, Denon TU245 AM/FM tuner and LG V9520 DVD/VHS player, all of which are routed through an eight-channel Yamaha 10G 8/2FX mixer, with an Extron matrix switcher and video distribution amplifier rack-mounted into the system. Two AMX 7.5-inch MVP-7500 wireless touchpanels are connected to an AMX NI-3100 master controller, to operate the various VCR and DVD players, NEC NP2000 projector, 240-inch Targa motorised projection screen, lighting and other electronic equipment. Shure UHF U24S/58 wireless microphone systems are used for speeches and announcements.
Two adjacent boardrooms – which can seat between eight and 20 people – contain identical A/V equipment for presentations and meetings. Draper 120-inch motorised screens and NEC LT25 2000 lumens projectors are used for DVD and VHS presentations from an LGV 9520 DVD/VHS player and Panasonic DMR-EH80V DVD recorder. An Extron MLS 406 Medialink Switcher and MLC206 controller provide composite video and audio switching. Audio playback is provided by a Yamaha 10G 8/2FX mixer, and a pair of wall-mounted Yamaha active MSP5A monitors and four JBL Control 24CT speakers powered by a single Crown CTs600 amplifier mounted in the ceiling. Two further meeting rooms, which are slightly smaller in size, also have the same A/V systems, but with smaller, 100-inch, Draper screens.
The background music system is divided into 10 separate zones throughout the hotel, with a Business Music System (used in all Shangri-La hotels worldwide) providing the main programme source. Using this set-up, Chinese strings and orchestral symphonies are piped into Shang Palace, while delicate Arabic music is played in the foyer area.
The control room contains a central equipment rack containing the three London Blu processors, a Denon DCM 500 5-disc MP3 player and two iMerge four-channel Audio Server S3004 hard-disk audio systems, together with a single Crown CTs 600 amplifier powering two JBL Control ceiling speakers for monitoring the system. From here, engineering service manager Mohamed Salim and his team supervise the BGM levels, and can make any necessary changes to the configuration via the London Architecture software running on a local PC. Each of the 10 zones on five levels of the hotel’s north and south wings can also be configured locally using the master Blu-10 and slave Blu-6 units’ control panels.
The restaurants, lobby, bar and public areas are equipped with 184 neatly disguised Evid C8.2 ceiling speakers, tapped to take into account the varying ceiling heights and ambient sound levels. In addition, 459 Niles speakers have been installed into guest rooms, while 290 Evid C4.2 ceiling speakers and 25 Evid 4.2 wall mounted speakers have been installed throughout the hotel. Crown amplifiers are exclusively used, including 20 CTs600 and 3 CTs8200 models.
With the emphasis on luxury, the hotel architect and designer specified an A/V system that would not only be discrete outside of the boardrooms and meeting rooms, but one that could be easily controlled and managed. These goals have been attained with comparative ease, thanks to the modular design afforded by London Blu processing and Cat5 network installed by Aesthetix.
Between the Bridges, UAE: +97 1 2509 8888
Aesthetix, UAE: +97 1 4337 4755