ParFect Light for Tank History

	Photo: Courtesy AKTCO

Nearly 400 Robe ParFect S1s LED luminaires are in action lighting the newly opened Royal Tank Museum in Amman, Jordan, illuminating 110 x battle-worn tanks from a century of wars in the Middle East and other more distant conflicts.

The lighting was specified by Amman-based AV and IT integration solutions specialist AKTCO. The project was led by Nidal Khalifeh (CEO), George Boury (project manager), and Duaa' Khraim (design engineer) from AKTCO who worked closely with Elie Battah, from Robe Middle East, to coordinate the supply of ParFects to this high-profile installation.

The futuristic museum building was designed by Zaid Daoud Architects and looks a bit like a modern impressionist tank lurking in the sand dunes! The 20,000-sq.m. space is divided into 12 halls showcasing the exhibits, which include illustrations of historic battles in Syria, Jerusalem, and Jordan, complete with an audioscape of gunfire, roaring diesel engines, and emotive speeches. Life-size replicas of soldiers poke out of tank turrets giving the exhibits a life-like feel that they are about to roll into action.

"This dramatic environment needed careful lighting," explains Khalifeh, who, together with the team at AKTCO, was extremely proud to be involved in the Museum, opened in January by His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan, who originally decreed its creation in 2007.

The project's realisation was a massive national and regional achievement and it has been highly acclaimed internationally as a vital and historically significant curation of military hardware.

AKTCO responded to a tender issued by the KADDB (King Abdullah 2 Deign & Development Bureau) and proposed a lighting scheme utilizing the 375 x ParFect S1s, picked for the "high quality and clarity of the light output and the range of tuneable whites."

The tender was won based on their innovative design proposals and the recommendation of using the latest Robe LED technologies to provide a long term low maintenance and aesthetically pleasing solution.

The challenges were in lighting the huge spaces involved that were needed to show off these impressive military relics in an appropriate and engaging environment, and also in show casing the tanks themselves, objects built to consume and conquer everything in their path ... including lumens!

"We really needed very high powered and precise luminaires that didn't consume too much power and would be tough and hardwearing as they are on for very long periods each day. We knew we could rely on the proven quality of Robe, and lightsources that would not deteriorate were also a consideration."

The lights are installed on gantries and trusses in the roof, and AKTCO also undertook all the installation work involved and have guaranteed this for five years.

The ParFects are controlled via a PC-based system which also handles the building control, and they can be remotely accessed via an iPad App for tweaking.

"Robe is one of the best brands we've worked with to date" confirms Khalifeh, "and the results of this project speak for themselves. We are also impressed with the levels of technical support from Robe and are confident they are excellent partners for us".

Ayman Takriti is AKTCO's sound engineer who, with the rest of the team, worked intensively on site with three integration engineers -- Mohammad Nofal, Mohammad Bader, and Ammar Mansour. Looking after the IT side ongoing are Alaa Jarrir and Aya Jarrah.

Robe's ParFect series is becoming popular for museums and exhibitions as well as for automotive applications. ParFect 100s are also currently lighting a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in Lódz, Poland.

The S1 is a powerful single source LED luminaire designed specifically to provide the finest quality of light in a range of tuneable whites from fresh, vibrant 6,000K to intimate, gentle 2700K, the company says. Refined dimming and a 23° lensed output make it truly multipurpose and it's housed in a robust, lightweight composite material adding more flexibility.