Hurghada International Airport expands with R-H
Published: MEA
EGYPT: Catering to growing traffic, Hurghada International Airport has recently completed construction on new runways and a US$300m terminal. Expanding the airport’s capacity from 4.6 million to 7.5 million passengers a year, the new 90,000 sq-m, four storey terminal boasts nine baggage claim carousels, multiple arrival and departure halls, restaurants, lounges and shopping areas. System designer Dar Al Handasah specified digitally steered arrays for the new space and Cairo-based Teco was contracted to install 74 Renkus-Heinz Iconyx columns to cover the terminal halls.
As with many large indoor structures, this enormous, reverberant environment presented challenges for the sound system designers. ‘The floors are marble, and the walls are glass with aluminium casing,’ observed Teco's Amgad William Younan. ‘And each area's dimensions are quite huge. The only positive was the ceilings, which are acoustic tiles.’
The international and domestic gates are now covered by 30 IC16/8-R-II columns, along with seven IC8-R-II and two IC24-R-II columns. The check-in hall has been equipped with 11 IC16/8-R-II systems, while 10 IC8-R-II columns cover the greeting area. Stated to be one of the more challenging areas to equip, the baggage claim carousels feature 12 IC24-R-II columns with a pair of IC8-R-II units filling in coverage.
‘The ability to control the beams of the Iconyx speakers enabled us to provide exceptional speech intelligibility in this very large, highly reverberant space,’ recalled Mr Younan. ‘Using far fewer units than would be required with conventional speakers, we were able to achieve uniform, even coverage to even the more hard to reach areas. The Iconyx more than met our expectations, and the consultant and client were very impressed with the results. This is truly the best sounding airport in all of Egypt.’