A remarkable feat of architecture, engineering and technology on nature’s lap - Al Dana Amphitheatre

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

A picture of the iconic 1969 Woodstock Music event decorates the restaurant area at The Quarry, the space meant for VIPs at Al Dana Amphitheatre, which is a marvel blend of excellence in architecture with the best of interiors and design. The picture is one among scores of exquisite Marwan Lockman touch, which has made the whole world of difference. Marwan, a renowned architect and director of S/L Architects, told The Daily Tribune, during a media tour, that the public project of a huge scale was really inspiring and challenging.

“Efforts to inculcate the organic nature of desert space within the design was the greatest inspiration and it was also the greatest challenge,” he said. The initial plan was to design an outdoor concert avenue catering to around 10,000 visitors, which would additionally serve as an attraction on the racetrack. “Red Rocks in Colorado, The Gorge in Washington and the amphitheatres of Ancient Greece and Rome were in mind when I was tasked to create a huge open-air desert rock venue.

The wind factor positioned the stage to the west, positioning against the setting sun and Jabal Al Dukhan, the Kingdom’s highest point at 134 meters above sea level.” The amphitheatre itself is dropped into the natural limestone foundation and the remaining materials fit naturally on the site, for instance, stone reused from the excavation process, rammed earth walls and rusted steel.

“These are lasting materials that are capable of surviving long in this tough climate of frequent sandstorms and high humidity.” The plan also included making the building fully accessible to wheelchair users apart from offering an unparalleled sound quality.

“At Al Dana, the plan is directed by the amphitheatre’s 90m length, which is almost identical to Red Rocks and is optimised into a fan shape that accommodates 9,841 outdoor spectators on bench seating without requiring repeater speakers. The stage is 15m tall with an up-lit limestone backdrop and a roof topography that was designed in Grasshopper to mimic the profile of the mountain range behind. “Limestone and stone-filled gabion retaining walls all around help with the scattering of sound, reducing echo. The whole venue has been designed to the US disabled standard with wheelchair access almost everywhere, including to all balconies and corporate boxes.

A late addition to the project, these are converted shipping containers placed on top of retaining walls that flank the auditorium. “Discreet, low-level 3000 kelvin warm lighting has been used across the amphitheatre to focus concentration on the stage and help the building melt into the surrounding landscape, allowing visitors to forget they are in something man-made.” Marwan highlighted that crowd management has always been one of the major design priorities at Al Dana Amphitheatre. “The design manages to reduce entry times for 10,000 people to three minutes 40 seconds, and exit to as little as one minute 50 seconds.

” Marwan worked with Garreth Thomas on the interior design. “We wanted to bring the external experience inside. The bar is topped with a vinyl material and clad with cloth from Fender. In the bar, there are velvet curtains, an epoxy resin floor and aged leather sofas for a rocked forever look. Wall ceilings have a raw concrete finish, more epoxy resin floors, the sinks are made from chunks of rock and the taps are simple exposed copper piping. In the office ceilings are exposed, recycled pallets act as wall dividers and flooring is made from recycled car tyres.”

“While the structure mainly comprises precast concrete, which is basically a local material, other materials come from the site, are local or are recycled as much as possible. There are two buried tanks to withstand a once-in-300-years rainfall and the aluminium screens support natural solar shading, giving the project a totally unexpected character.”

Al Dana Amphitheatre is an architectural wonder as it is a remarkable feat of engineering in the midst of spectacular Sakhir desert. It combines nature with the state-of-the-art technology, offering an entertainment magic under the stars to guests. Powerful natural acoustics and panoramic views of the stage are special to Al Dana Amphitheatre. Work on the garden is under progress at Al Dana and upon completion it will further boost the aesthetic experience at the Kingdom’s most celebrated entertainment centre.