Doha based event design and production company Kenkaato produced a spectacular of epic proportions for the formerly named Qatar National Hotels (QNH) Company, now Katara Hospitality, which involved fully co-ordinated large format projections onto four of the group's stunning buildings in central Doha.
The event ran live for three evenings, celebrating Katara Hospitality's announcement of a complete rebranding exercise and the official launch of a new corporate identity, together with new acquisitions. It also coincided with the heavyweight three day Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) being staged in Dubai.
The client wanted to make a high impact using a contemporary medium that could engage the general public and be communicated commercially and virally on multiple levels.
Kenkaato - a new company fusing experience with fresh ideas and imagination - took the brief, which already included projections - and presented the client with several options.
From this Katara Hospitality chose direct projections and architectural lighting onto four of their highest profile properties in the City – the Ritz Carlton in West Bay, the Doha Marriot, the Sheraton Hotel with its eye-catching Corniche site and their own headquarters on C-Ring.
The event was delivered with elegance, chic and massive visual effect utilising all the power and drama of monumental projection combined with feature lighting.
These giant projections, strategically dotted around the city caught eyes and cameras. Images were immediately randomly buzzed around social network sites creating a real clamour.
Kenkaato's Sarah Whitmarsh and Darryl Payne brought in Dutch projection specialists Hulskamp Audiovisual, via their Dubai office, to help realise the project and put together the technical spec needed to create the spectacle.
Pani BP6 high power slide projectors were chosen for their brightness and because they were the most versatile machines available for the job. These were fitted with a selection of different lenses to match their positioning and throw distances.
Three of the buildings are glass fronted, so Kenkaato arranged for them to be fully dressed in perforated wrapping, a challenging six day job undertaken by Icon Qatar and involving three teams of 6 professional abseilsers, who had to work hanging from the tops of the buildings – the tallest being the Ritz Carlton at 115 metres high.
The surface areas covered by the special slide artwork – which included the new Katara Hospitality logo, branding and a selection of narrative slides specific to each building – were all vast.
At the pyramid shaped Sheraton, the images measured 132 metres wide at the base, 32 metres wide at the top with a height of 62 metres. This was achieved using three Pani BP6s positioned on an architectural walkway across a lagoon, approximately 50 metres away. Another fascia of the Sheraton was architecturally lit to complement the projections.
The Marriot – one of the original western style hotels to open in Doha - was projected onto on two sides, covering areas of 30 x 37 metres and 48 x 27 metres respectively, utilising four BP6 machines positioned in the car park and on the beach.
At the Ritz Carlton, three BP6 projectors stationed in the hotel grounds created an image 70 metres wide by 40 metres high straddling two surfaces.
Back at the QNH HQ, three Pani BP4s were used to cover a surface area of 50 by 9 metres, all located in the central reservation of the road!
Control for all four projector systems was local to each installation. Artwork was supplied by QNH and especially composited as Pani slides by the Hulskamp team.
To further unify all the sites, the crowns and top pieces of each building were illuminated in the same bright Cool Blue using high powered architectural lighting fixtures, supplied by the leading Doha lighting and sound rental company; Creative Communications Group (CCG).
To complete the visual picture, grounds and gardens were feature lit with individual lighting schemes designed by Michel Khairallah from CCG. These all added atmosphere and enhanced the aesthetics to tie in with the content being highlighted on the buildings.
Various lighting fixtures were used including – Griven Kolorados, Kaliedos and Kolorstream 2500s and Clay Paky Alpha Spot 1200 and 1500 moving lights.
In addition to co-ordinating the projection and lighting, Kenkaato undertook all the logistics involved to stage the event, obtaining the import licences and municipality permissions to site the equipment in public places. To ensure this went a smoothly, they engaged the services of Russell Mason at Impact Events.
All the power needed across the four sites, was supplied by Byrne Power Rental and installed by three teams with special attention paid to location and minimising any disturbance to hotel guests. .
Says Sarah Whitmarsh, “We were thrilled to be invited to be part of Katara Hospitality's new era. The brief was simple, ‘to raise awareness of the new brand' and in doing so ‘Create a visual impact never seen before in Doha'. Working with people we trust, we knew we could create something awesome.
“As ever, there are always challenges here, which were magnified by the very short three week lead-time and import delays. Nevertheless, great teamwork and collaborations between some of the best professionals in the industry produced fantastic results”.
For more press info. on Kenkaato, please contact Louise Stickland on +44 (0)1865 202679 or +44 (0)7831 329888, or Email ‘[email protected]', Contact Kenkaato direct on +971 (0)50 519 9707 or +974 5598 5516.