The Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre was opened by the current Ruler of Kuwait, HH Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, on October 31, 2016.
Includes: A state-of-the-art national theater with a main auditorium seating 2000, a drama theater seating 700 and a studio theater with seating for 300. A music center with a 1500-seat capacity concert hall and a 300-seat capacity recital hall. A conference center with a flexible main hall seating up to 540, a 400-seat cinema and a symposium hall, aswell as a library and archive.
The venue was built in less than 24 months and includes 4 buildings that contain 11 multipurpose halls
Each building was designed to meet a different need, and each hall features adjustable seating that can be configured according to an event. The venue's designers drew inspiration from Islamic Culture, the exterior architecture features many-sided geometric forms that use the highest-quality materials and different construction techniques, while the interior design makes use of traditional Arabic colors and calligraphy, and uses marble, glass and wood throughout the halls and foyer areas.
Tech Savvy
The Cultural Center's design and build company, Al Hani Construction and Trading Company, enlisted Svetlost Teatar from Belgrade for the project. Svetlost Teatar provided complete integration of the stage technology systems, including: supply and installation of stage machinery and control systems, supply and installation of stage lighting and control systems, and supply and installation of sound, video and communication systems.
Stage machinery systems were custom-developed and produced for all 11 venues of the JACC
The theater called for more than 10 types of stage pit elevators and a stage riser system with seating wagons, offering greater functionality and flexibility thanks to custom-designed understage machinery equipment.
All elevators have a mechanical linear drive with variable computer-controlled speed. The lifting mechanisms consist of spiral-wound movement or compression chains, or screw-jack actuating units.
The theater stage have been equipped with modern and motorized high-performance SIL 3 flying. Additionally, chain hoist systems are available throughout the venue to enable easily interchangeable over-grid setup.
Auditoria with portal openings are equipped with adjustable proscenium devices and safety curtains. Elaborate cable management options enable, easy and versatile lighting configurations. Stage lighting systems enable the production of diverse events in all 11 halls. The iluminaries are versatile and include: Conventional equipment from ETC, Philips Selecon and Robert Juliat, LED-based technology from ETC and Philips Showline and motorized equipment from Robe and Philips Varilite.
In terms of control systems, a combination of ETC Eos, Cobalt Series and MA Lighting has been used
Data distribution combines Ethernet and DMX distributions, while networking uses sACN with ETC DMX RDM Gateways. The work lights control system is ETC Unison Paradigm. This system is fully integrated with the house light controls over building-wide architectural control networks.
The sound, video and communication systems installed are highly flexible and configurable for medium and large scale events, music and other performances. Main systems installed within all venues include a fully digital site-wide audio routing network with paging system, sound reinforcement system (including cinema surround 7.1 sound), digital mixing console system, video projection system (including 4K cinema projectors) surtitle system, production intercom and IPTV system.
A digital routing system for audio signals creates a distributed system using standard GbE hardware and enables audio routing throughout all venues within each building, as well as between the buildings.
