Four star modularity
Published: ASIA
Travellers come in many various guises and as such hotels have to accommodate accordingly. The newly opened Ramada Singapore at Zhongshan Park is the only four star international hotel in the Novena vicinity, with 384 rooms combining contemporary elegance, comfort and convenience for business and leisure travellers alike.
With 540 sq-m of meeting and banqueting space, the Ramada Singapore offers a perfect setting for corporate meetings, wedding banquets and private parties. The hotel ballroom and function room are equipped with the flexibility to accommodate events requiring various set-ups, with the main Balestier ballroom catering up to 350 standing or 260 banquet guests. The ballroom can also be partitioned into three 113 sq-m function rooms.
Working closely with A/V consultant Acoustic & Environmental Solutions Pte Ltd (AES), Concept Systems Technologies Pte Ltd was awarded the tender to supply and install the A/V system into both function rooms. Intelligibility was cited as the main criteria for the audio system, for which two systems cater for the multitude of events that fill the Ramada Singapore’s diary from simple reinforced speech to high SPL live performances. Both the room acoustics and the visual aesthetics have been enhanced by surrounding vertical hardwood panels, which include slotted holes acting as a bass trap to lower the reverberation time to 0.65 milliseconds.
An Electro-Voice EviD 12.2C ceiling solution consisting of 18 speakers offers even dispersion and clear intelligibility for speeches, conferences and background music. Powered by EV PA2400T amplifiers, the system also draws upon Sabine FBX Navigator loudspeaker processors. A 40-channel Yamaha IM8-40 analogue console has been broken into three banks each consisting of 12 channels representing each sub-division of the Balestier ballroom. The console receives its feed from various microphone points in the rooms’ facility panels or from the four Tascam CD-R W900 SL recorders that cater the three rooms in addition to the pre-function area.
Adorned by three modern chandeliers occupying approximately half of the 5.3m height ceiling space, the Concept Systems Technologies team was also challenged in the placement of EviD 12.2C ceiling speakers by the same hardwood panel design decorating the walls. Following sound plotting, accurate speaker placements were ensured in a slightly random manner so as not to mar the aesthetics whilst providing intelligibility.
‘We didn’t want to drill holes in the wrong places and we didn’t want the speakers to rattle, so in that respect, we achieved our goal,’ confirms AES’s Sonny C Y Lim. ‘We had many meetings to ensure that that the power, cabling and speaker placements were 100 per cent accurate. The hotel and the general contractor realised this and were very helpful.’
For those clients requiring higher SPL for when the room is combined for larger events, two L-R EVA arrays have been added according to the room orientation or where a performance needs to be staged. Powered by EV CPS2.12 amplifiers, two clustered EVA S-2082S front-loaded loudspeakers have been combined with a single EVA-1151D 15-inch subwoofer per side. A total of eight channels of Sennheiser ew100G3 wireless microphones have been provided, although wired models are also available.
The Ramada Singapore technical staff are able to take advantage of Crestron control courtesy of the Pro2 A/V system that has been programmed and installed, via the three wall mounted touchscreens or a wireless 7-inch tablet. Meanwhile, like the PA system, the projection system is also modular, so that each of the three Balestier rooms is catered for by a wall recessed Eiki LC-X85 7000 lumens projector.
‘These need to be serviced every six months – it’s tricky getting access to them,’ confirms Concept Systems Technologies’ Lim Chuan Kai. Two further models have been ceiling mounted and can be utilised when the room is combined into the larger space. Five motorised 3m height x 2.4m width screens can be lowered via the Crestron control system, whilst a Kramer 8x8 RGBHV and balanced stereo audio matrix switcher receives the various visual feeds from up to eight camera, PC and Blu-Ray DVD inputs.
The hotel entices its clientele through a multitude of attractive benefits and features, for which the A/V and audio set up in the Balestier ballroom plays a significant role.