Time Square Dimmer Project - 9

Located right in the heart of the central business district of Kuala Lumpur, the spectacular Times Square Hotel & Convention Center houses the largest indoor amusement park in Asia – with 14 major rides – and the largest shopping area in Asia – with 900 retail shops, IMAX 3D theatre, and the largest ballroom in Asia.

Times Square Hotel & Convention Center really means business when it comes to providing quality conference and banquet facilities. As well as the pillar-less Manhattan Ballroom that can accommodate up to 2,700 persons for a cocktail reception and 1,400 persons for a banquet function, there are the Pre-Function area and 7 Conference Boardrooms plus the Foyer area available for functions of all kinds – conference, theatre, dining or cocktails. Total maximum guest capacity for functions is 5,500 persons.

Throughout this superb project, Times Square relied on Futronix PFX Systems and other Futronix components to provide their conference and hotel guests – as well as thrill-seekers, shoppers, and diners – with the benefits of the most reliable, fully-featured all-digital lighting and automation controls available.

Futronix’ scope at Times Square included lighting controls for the huge Manhattan Ballroom – the largest pillarless room in Asia – as well as the adjoining Pre-Function and Conference Boardrooms; all public spaces; hotel lobby and reception areas, restaurants and cinemas.

The Manhattan Ballroom installation is notable for several features. Lighting in the ballroom includes a combination of dimmable cold-cathode lighting, dimmable fluorescent uplighters, and banks of twin-300W tungsten halogen downlighters set halfway up the walls in translucent glass-fronted recesses.

This vast room can be partitioned into 2-3 smaller Ballrooms, each with its’ own control room; with the Futronix PFX dimmer racks located in 2 separate DB (distribution board) rooms with input from 3 switchplates located in the rooms and 3 more in service areas.

Futronix’ X-BUS protocol allowed for all power and data to be sent down a single multi-stranded cable, daisy-chained to each switch plate in turn. As cabling had to be routed across the ceiling, this enabled a single cable in excess of 600m length to replace 6 separate CAT 5 cables, with the additional benefits of less cabling and installation, greater reliability due to fewer connections, easier terminations, and a more robust cable.