Doha, Qatar
2011
27,000
Acoustics, Projection
Education
Located on the outskirts of Doha, Education City is one of the Middle East’s leading centres of educational excellence. This landmark campus brings together facilities ranging from primary schools to advanced research laboratories, creating an environment designed to prepare students for future careers not only in key Gulf industries, but also in music, theatre, and the performing arts.
To support this vision, Education City incorporates multiple high-performance venues equipped with specialist acoustic and stage solutions supplied by J&C Joel. The scope of works included Acoustic Motorised Concertina Banners, more than 8,000 square metres of stage dressings, and bespoke Front of House curtains.
The installation of 114 Acoustic Motorised Concertina Banners created a fully variable acoustic environment in Education City’s Halls One and Two. The team positioned each unit behind decorative steel mesh panelling and engineered them to meet strict acoustic and operational requirements.
The banners use more than 2,500 square metres of Tay Wool Serge. Each unit features a single-speed, self-sustaining gearbox and a motor with dual brakes. A drive shaft with keyed, nylon, ball-raced pulleys ensures smooth and reliable operation.
Running from these ball raced pulleys are a pair of Kevlar bands that pass through a series of aluminium slats used to hold the Tay Wool Serge in place and terminate at a bottom tray.
Each banner measures 1.5 metres in width and between 8.8 and 11 metres in height. This size allows operators to adjust the venue’s acoustics to suit any performance. The banners are raised and lowered with pinpoint accuracy using a computerised control system and encoders built into each unit.
For the stages in Halls One, Two and Three, over 80 curtains were manufactured from black Heavy Velvet Velour. Specifically, these included Front of House Curtains with 50% fullness, fully lined with black Bolton Twill (BT005). The largest curtain measured 30 metres wide with a 12 metre drop, delivering both scale and visual impact.
A full complement of stage masking curtains, borders, legs, travellers and flat panels for the rear of the stages were manufactured from the same black Heavy Velvet Velour and lined with black Bolton Twill (BT005). Each curtain featured both tab hooks and tie tapes, allowing flexible fixing to either tracks or bars.
To complete the installation a number of twin white front/rear Projection Screens (PVC055) were installed. These included a Cyclorama Projection Screen measuring 14m by 12m which provides a flexible backdrop for any performance.
