kish island presents an international challenge in Iran
PRO AUDIO MEA March-April 2009
Tehran-based systems integrator Fares Technology has recently completed work on what it is calling ‘one of the biggest audio-video projects in Iran in the past decade’, having installed a complete audio solution into the International Forum Centre located on the Iranian free-zone island of Kish.
The International Forum Centre is set to become a cornerstone of Kish Island, which has been a designated free trade zone within the Islamic Republic since 1993 and is widely regarded in the region as one of the great unsung island resorts of the Middle East.
Alongside the new Forum, it boasts the Daruish five-star hotel, the Flower of the East tourist resort, which itself includes a seven-star hotel and the 10,000-sq-m Kish Dolphin Park. Other projects being constructed on the island include the Middle East’s first solar-powered hotel.
Managed by the Kish Free Zone Organisation (KFZO), the International Forum Centre is intended to transform Kish into a regional hub for conferences, large seminars, and arts programs. As it stands, the facility includes a 900-seat, 10,000-sq-m main auditorium plus ancillary buildings including smaller conference halls, computer suites, and administration offices.
Further planned developments will add a 600-seat theatre, a 450-seat cinema, and smaller cultural centers.
Fares Technology won the contract to manage the Forum’s A/V installation in partnership with its partner company, Tehran-based supplier Shidco following a lengthy tender process. ‘This project was big enough to attract many well-known companies,’ explained international relations and technical manager Adam Ashraf Abadi. ‘Two points caused us to overcome the other companies – first, our design of the system for the main hall and conference rooms, and secondly Shidco being the sole distributor of so many brands.’
included among those brands are Italian loudspeaker manufacturer RCF, whose products made up much of the final installation for the main auditorium, with a TTL33A line array plus a Forum 9000 digital conferencing system alongside a Thesys 1000 interpretations system.
Elsewhere in the Forum, three smaller conference rooms seating 20, 30, and 60 people have been supplied with Forum 9000 and Thesys 1000 systems as has a fourth room that is intended for up to 100 delegates. Included elsewhere in the project are Soundcraft Vi6 mixing consoles, a wealth of AKG microphones, and Sony video screens.
With such high expectations riding on the success of the Forum project, the Fares Tech team spent a year working on the installation, which Mr. Abadi describes as presenting the company with its biggest challenge.
‘The main difficulty was being geographically far from the location of the project,’ he said. ‘Kish is in the south of Iran, so our technicians and their families had to be relocated there, in an area with hot weather and very high humidity.
Fares Tech had to use special materials and equipment to resist those conditions, making the installation exhausting and time-consuming. Another challenge we faced was the main hall, which is intended to be a multifunctional area – a concert hall, a conference auditorium, and a place for performing theatre. We had to combine different equipment without interfering with each other’s work.’
Nevertheless, with the project now complete Fares Tech and Shidco are in the position of having played a pivotal role in the creation of what is hoped will become a major facility within Iran and the wider region.
‘Accomplishing this project was important not only to Fares Tech but to the whole of Iran,’ enthused Mr. Abadi.
