Katara Towers of Lusail: a demanding project with great international projection
In the year in which Qatar is going to host one of the most important sporting events in the world, the football World Cup, we must tell you about one of our success stories, the most relevant to date at an international level. It concerns the capital of the World Cup final, Lusail, where Tecnitex has taken part in the construction of the emblematic Katara Towers.
This ambitious project is a new architectural wonder in Qatar that is visually reminiscent of two crossed scimitars, the traditional swords of this area of the Middle East. At Tecnitex, we are proud to have participated in one of the city’s most emblematic buildings—one that represents its present and future—, and we will tell you more about it below.
▷ Katara Towers of Lusail
The Lusail Katara hotel, made up of two towers, is in the Lusail Marina district and will host the football teams and associations that will travel to the city for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. With an area of 48,400 m2 and 36 stories high, in its interior, it will house two of the most prestigious hotel firms in the world, Raffles and Fairmont.
Katara Towers is an ambitious project that, due to its large scale, required fire protection systems that were up to the task. And this is where we encountered the first challenge, a complex architectural design to which we had to adapt our systems to fully respect the aesthetic line and the open-space concept design of these towers.
This is where Tecnitex became part of what will soon be an iconic part of this Qatari city.
▷ Tecnitex and Katara Towers
The international projection and the importance of this building meant that our work as professionals in fire protection could not fail.
▸ Challenge 1: The Solution
The project required the sectorization of an atrium made up of 10 floors, with perimeters of 60m and heights of 3m, and a ground floor with a perimeter of 90m and a height of 6m. All of them with different elliptical geometries.
The solution proposed by Tecnitex was based on the design and manufacture of 11 MFB BIND E-120 accordion-concertina fire curtains on the 11 floors of the building.
The systems used allow sectorization by level, avoiding the passage of flames between floors, being housed inside the false ceilings and occupying the minimum space, without overloading the proposed structures given their lightness. Their condition as hidden and invisible systems provided the ideal solution to the architectural challenge posed, remaining completely hidden until activated in the event of a fire.
It was a real challenge to design blinds to be housed in straight metal drawers, which would adapt to a curved and irregular geometry. Process control, 3D design, CNC manufacturing and document traceability allowed for an adapted modular system, simplifying the number of elements.
▸ Challenge 2: The Deadline
The second challenge was meeting the deadlines set for certification under the regulations stipulated in the country, and for the manufacturing itself.
We could not fail in this aspect since the towers had to be ready before the start of the World Cup. A successful manufacturing plan had to be developed following the “just-in-time” method, followed by a perfect logistics organization that ensured that all the material was at its destination on time to be unloaded, assembled, installed and tested.
Throughout the process, the close and trusting relationship that we created with our Qatari client allowed us to guide them throughout the installation process and on-site tests, thus participating in all aspects of the project and monitoring the installation at all times.
▸ Challenge 3: The Difference
Given the size of the project, the systems required exhaustive control mechanisms adapted to the new technologies, which would allow us to monitor the status, history of alerts, incidents, etc. in real-time, as well as remote management that will facilitate future maintenance tasks. To meet the challenge, CST-2 TOUCH control panels were supplied, based on IoT technology, integrating all these requirements as well as traceability and access to all project documentation.
We are very satisfied with our collaboration in one of the most relevant international projects of the year. Thanks to the work carried out and the trust in Tecnitex Fire Systems, the Katara Towers will be a building that is secure against the devastation caused by fires.
We are the present. We are the future. We are Tecnitex
Marta Biosca, Technical Sales Engineer