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RIYADH’S AL FAISALIAH, A ROSEWOOD HOTEL, WILL UNVEIL ITS CONTEMPORARY NEW SOUTH WING THIS SUMMER

SAUDI ARABIA: In celebration of its tenth anniversary, Saudi Arabia’s Al Faisaliah, a Rosewood Hotel, will unveil its new south wing this summer. The extension will include 106 rooms and suites, an Italian dining venue and a ladies-only spa.

Designed by HRH Princess Al Anoud Bint Khaled Al Saud, owner and founder of Al Dar Designs, the new wing will bring a fresh new feel to the hotel, with vibrant colours and touches of Arabian and Islamic culture recurring throughout. The design will maintain a sensory connection to the ‘dune’ theme of the original hotel and will be modern, elegant and cutting-edge, setting it apart from Saudi Arabia’s other hotels, Princess Al Anoud explained.

“Many hotels you see in Saudi are elegant but very traditional in design. Al Faisaliah Hotel has been the pinnacle of elegant design but with this wing we wanted to bring international hotel design to the kingdom. It will stand out for its unique infusion of Arabian culture into the central theme. This was a very important element for us” she maintained.

‘We’ve chosen to go with art deco classic and use Royal Ottoman Iznic patterns and Arabic calligraphy as a key element of the Arabian and Islamic art throughout the wing. We’re also using four to fi ve vibrant colours that, when integrated, give it a very fresh feeling.”

Al Faisaliah, a Rosewood Hotel, is located in Riyadh’s Olaya district. Dubbed as one of Riyadh’s most luxurious properties, the hotel features the largest columnfree banquet, conference and meeting facilities in the country. With the introduction of 24-hour butler service, the hotel has also established itself as a leading provider of personalised service.

“We at Al Faisaliah, a Rosewood Hotel, strive to always offer our guests the very fi nest in luxury surroundings and service that is second-to-none,” commented Peter Finamore, managing director of Al Faisaliah.

“Approaching our 10th anniversary, we want to ensure that this expansion to our offering delivers a standard of design and comfort not seen before in Saudi Arabia.

“We’re very glad to be able to work so closely with HRH Princess Al Anoud in order to deliver a new product to the market which embodies the very best of international design, infused with a new interpretation of Arabian culture and tradition,” he continued.

The new wing will signifi cantly bolster the hotels’ room offering, Finamore pointed out. “The new rooms and suites will be by far the largest hotel units in the kingdom. We are also introducing the kingdom’s fi rst ever concept spa suite,” he said.

“The Oasis Suite will have dedicated in-room spa facilities and has been specially designed with the discerning guest in mind.” The new wing will bring the total room count at the luxury hotel up to 330 units, and will boost its food and beverage offering to a total of fi ve restaurants.

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Poised for a major expansion and implementation of a slew of initiatives, the KR lighting unit provides complete design based lighting solutions for retail customers as well as large projects.

The Electrical Division of Khimji Ramdas (KR) Infrastructure Group, under the umbrella of Bait Al Ahlam and catering to the growing infrastructure and construction industry, enjoys a major market share in the electrical business.

Of the five business units under this division the Lighting business unit has been successful in handling prestigious projects and has to its credit a list of several references in the country with an excellent track record. Poised for a major expansion and implementation of a slew of initiatives, the unit provides complete design based lighting solutions for retail customers, as well as large projects.  The recent launch of Lumen Zone concept is a pointer in that direction. “We do not provide a product. We are basically a solutions provider. Starting from the concept to design stage, our specialized lighting designers and engineers are involved in providing the solution,” says Suresh Babu Nair, Head of the Lighting Business Unit.

The lighting unit covers the complete spectrum of lighting products which include Fluroscent lighting, in-shop lighting, sports lighting, architectural lighting, residential lighting, outdoor lighting, lighting controls, and lighting designs through leading international companies like Trilux (Germany), Disano—Fosnova (Italy), Prisma (Italy), Reggiani (Italy), Ventilux (UK), Bugatti (Italy), GE and, Swarovski (Austria)and SCHONBECK of USA and Hungary. Laying emphasis on its policy of promoting Omani products, the division has exclusive marketing of ‘MAJELITE’ light fittings, manufactured by Majees Lighting Industries, Sohar. Most of the prestigious stadiums and schools in Oman are illuminated by Majelite.

Shashi Krishnan, Senior Divisional Manager, Electrical Division, KR, says, “The core strengths of the Division are its people who are very committed and dedicated to their assignments. With specifics to the lighting business units, the people have passion for lighting applications and can guide customers in making good selection. They address the various projects with appropriate packages. With a strong back up of agencies, the unit is supported ably by its principals. A combination of these core competencies enables us to provide excellent solutions to its customers.” The clientele of the KR lighting unit are Ministries, government projects, universities, residential and commercial complexes, villa owners, as well as large projects, malls and hotels, highways, stadium, etc.

NEW ADDITIONS

Khimji’s Lumen Zone was recently inaugurated at Bait Al Ahlam Towers. It is a state of the art interactive lighting solutions provider that offers effective illumination solutions from leading European and Omani brands, bringing both functional and aesthetic elements into  lighting solutions. Switching is an integral part of Lighting and a range of aesthetic switching accessories- ARTEOR from Legrand has been introduced. A varied choice of finishes to choose is on display at the Lumen Zone.

Home automation is the new trend catching up in Oman, and the Electrical Division has introduced VANTAGE from USA, where one can integrate air conditioning, lighting, motion sensors, security devices, entertainment electronics all into a single system and operated on sleek touch screens.

Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, did not pull any punches when comparing this building with other, more celebrated Olympic landmarks. On architect Cannon Design’s website, he declared: ‘Every visit to the Richmond Olympic Oval is awe-inspiring,’ adding that, while much has been said about the visual impact of Beijing’s National Stadium (the Bird’s Nest) and Aquatics Centre (the Water Cube) and their ‘stunning’ exteriors, interiors ‘were rather pedestrian’. By contrast, ‘the interior of the Oval is majestic’.

Creating a column-free space in which Olympic speed skaters chased record times, the structure itself became this site’s first record holder, with the world’s longest composite glulam wood/steel arches achieving a 95m span. However, what caught the attention of Trevor Boddy in his article for the AR (March 2010) was not the impressive statistics or opinions of the host city’s politicians. Rather, it was the innovative use of small-section timber, salvaged from threatened British Columbia pine. With many wood producers forced  to harvest timber early due to the impact of hungry pine beetles, this impressive 2.5ha roof (built for £475 per m2) found an inventive use for the unusually large stockpiles of the humble two-by-four stud.

  Cross section showing typical condition with arch, buttresses and  lift-up roof to north

The primary structure comprises 15 arches at 14.2m centres formed by two slabs of 175 x 1,700mm glue-laminated Douglas fir wood.

Richmond Oval’s ‘majestic’ interior

Connected at the bottom with a 10mm thick stiffened steel blade. Between these are the ingenious pre-tensioned ‘wood wave’ panels that tie the arches together and give the interior its distinctive serrated character. While other infill options were considered, a US $1.5 million (£980,000) research contribution  from the state government and forest industry enabled Vancouver-based engineers Fast + Epp, working with sister company StructureCraft, to offer, as managing director Paul Fast explains, ‘a unique made-in-BC solution that would also meet the wood/pine-beetle use design criteria’. Typically produced in 3.6 x 13m triple V units, held in bow-shaped form  by three Dywidag tension rods, the roof’s prefabrication also included installation of acoustic and fire insulation and sprinkler branches.

In 2009, Fast + Epp won an Institution of Structural Engineers Award for its innovative ideas in the Oval, beating Arup’s design for the Bird’s Nest. Boddy says: ‘If the heavy steel members and faux-sculptural mesh of the Arup/Herzog & de Meuron design represents the architecture and economies of the decade past, the elegant green efficiency of  Fast + Epp surely represent a bold direction for this new decade. [Olympic medal designer Omer] Arbel’s magnificent gold medals should go  to engineers for leading the way  for shunted-aside architects in  North America’s greenest city.’

     The world recordbeating arches have V sections that allow integration of services

Southern entrance elevation during construction

The last of 450 ‘wood wave’ panels being lifted into place

Typical wave panel perspective view

Detail of the buttress-arch-wall junction on north elevation