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VENUE 109
BULACAN
PHILIPPINE ARENA
VENUES OF THIS ENORMITY ARE SPARSE, SO RACHAEL ROGERSON WAS THRILLED TO HAVE THE
OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT THIS PIONEERING INSTALLATION AT THE PHILIPPINE ARENA, AND ONCE
THERE SHE WENT TO GREAT LENGTHS TO CAPTURE EVERY ESSENCE OF THE STORY.
BULACAN, PHILIPPINES
ASIA/PACIFIC/OCEANIA
Consider where you’d picture a new, state-of-the-art 75-hectare
tourism complex currently under development, in which the first
structure to be completed holds eight Guinness World Records. The
world records have been received for hosting the world’s largest
mixed-use indoor domed arena event with 51,519 attendees and
the record for the largest gospel choir made up of 4,745 members.
It’s unlikely your guess would be a country that is still considered
by some as Third World. Yet the Philippine Arena - a venue with
a capacity of up to 55,000, located at the heart of the Ciudad de
Victoria development in Bulacan, Philippines - is that megastructure.
The Arena is the vision of Bro. Eraño Manalo - the second church
leader of Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), a Christian denominative religion
that was founded in the Philippines in 1914 by Bro. Eraño’s father,
Bro. Felix Manalo. INC members believe their religion to be the
restoration of the original church founded by Jesus. Bro. Eraño
took over as executive minister of INC after Bro. Felix’s death in
1963 and after seeing significant growth in the church population
he began to envisage a dedicated place for all the members of
the church to meet and worship God. Unfortunately, the vision
wasn’t realised in his lifetime. Bro. Eraño’s successor, his son, Bro.
Eduardo Manalo carried the dream forward and along with the
venue’s owner - INC’s educational institution, New Era University
- set out plans to erect the Philippine Arena in line with INC’s
centennial year.
A week after the inauguration of Ciudad de Victoria on 21 July this
year, INC celebrated its centennial anniversary at the Philippine
Arena. As the host venue, the Arena welcomed almost two million
members onsite that day (27 July). The celebrations continued for
a full week, with the event being broadcast to approximately 1,180
worship buildings worldwide through live video feed on INC’s own
TV channels.
Though owned by the church, the Arena will not only be used
as a house of worship, it is now open and taking bookings for all
different types of events including sports games, music concerts
and bespoke events. Church services will occur one or two times a
month, while commercial events will take place up to three times per
week.
Engr. Bessy N. Fetalvero was appointed by INC at the beginning
of the project to take charge of contracts, bidding and buildings.
Over time her role expanded to include technical specifications
meaning she was involved with the selection process for architects,
designers, contractors and suppliers. Today, Bessy is the Building
Administrator for the entire Ciudad de Victoria site. Bessy said:
“The New Era University wanted to build a world-class arena,
they wanted it to be recognised globally so all the designs and
specifications had to be of a high standard.”
This began with New San Jose Builders, the real estate company
commissioned to develop the entire Ciudad de Victoria project and
Generations Design Asia - headed up by President Gerry Acuzar
- the company in charge of project management. It continued
with almost every major role for the project being put out to
tender, allowing architects, structural engineers, construction and
installation teams to bid for the contract. The successful applicants
for each section were selected on their previous experience and
their company profile. The first to be appointed were Australian
architects Populous, structural experts Buro Happold and Korean
building constructors, Hanwha E&C.
The initial challenge faced by Populous was the sheer capacity
of the venue but inspiration came from visualising the relationship
between the leader of INC, Bro. Eduardo and his congregation.
Populous Senior Principal and Project Director, Andrew James
said: “Safety and entering and leaving the building efficiently were
the first priorities and then we wanted to create a building where
everyone could see and hear one person at the front of the stage
as clearly as possible, where there was also a sense of intimacy and
a connection, drawing on the atmosphere created when you have
50,000 people in the one space.
“We worked to achieve a tight, compact and shallow seating bowl,
which is also gracious with its saddle bowl form, high in the centre
and dropping down at the flanks. This enables spectators not only
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confirmed Electro-Voice products were compliant with the design
and of course the products fitted the price parameter too.”
Although, EVi had not carried out a project of this magnitude before,
the company had design and technical support from Electro-Voice’s
parent company, Bosch, both the Singaporean and Philippine
offices. Prosound from South Africa was brought onboard as a
international rigging partner to assist with the design and fabrication
of the audio equipment, as well as Tony Sawyer of Electro-Voice
Middle East, who was a true support throughout the project
particularly during the installation and tuning processes. Bluerig,
a local rigging company, also played a major role in the rigging
process to support Prosound.
The only comparable project for Electro-Voice is the AT&T Arena in
Texas, famous home of the Dallas Cowboys NFL team, and to this
day it remains the manufacturer’s largest installation. The Philippine
Arena is now considered its smaller sibling, being the second largest
Electro-Voice installation. This comparison is also replicated in the
product series, the AT&T Arena uses Electro-Voice’s X-Line Series
to be able to see the speaker on the stage, but also means they
are very aware of the other 50,000 people in the arena, helping
to create an atmosphere.” Andrew also made sure that the design
allowed for easy separation of the lower bowl from the upper tier
- which is taken care of by 32 Prolyte Prolyft Aetos chain hoist
motors installed on trusses housing curtains supplied and sewn by
J&C Joel, with acoustic and thermal properties - should the venue
capacity need to be scaled down for a particular event.
The realisation of how to make these architectural plans come alive
was down to Hong-Kong based Chris Sparrow of Buro Happold
- an international engineering consultancy - and his team. They
calculated that the Philippine Arena would be built on 99,200 sq
metres of land and would have a dome of 36,000 sq metres. The
roof would span over 160 metres and be made up of 9,000 tonnes
of steel, sitting at a height of 62 metres. Chris also had to ensure
that the structure of the Arena was earthquake proof, which he did
with the help of research carried out by the Philippine Institute of
Volcanology and Seismology.
The responsibility of the construction of the Arena lay in the hands
of Hanwha E&C, a company based in Korea, which described the
undertaking of this US$175m project as a great honour and a
chance to show the world its technological capabilities and ability
to successfully carry out projects overseas. Hanwha E&C not only
constructed the Arena, it was involved from the beginning and was
also responsible for the design, working closely with Populous in
order to ensure the whole process from design to build ran smoothly
and efficiently. It took a total of 30 months for the Arena to be fully
complete, and it was only in the two months before the inauguration
that the audio element of the project began to take shape.
Two rounds of bidding took place for the audio contract. Initially the
INC felt it needed an overseas company to equip the Arena with a
sound system, mainly due to the fact that no local companies had
ever taken on a project of this scale. However, during the second
tender application, one local company managed to change that
opinion and was awarded the contract in April 2013. The winning
bidder was EVI Distribution, distributor of Electro-Voice in the
Philippines.
EVI General Manager Lito Dungca explained further: “We told
INC about Electro-Voice, the brand’s presence in the region, and
about the support that we could offer directly from the Philippines.
We also gave them some readings from an audio design we put
together using EASE modelling software. We had to demonstrate
that we could comply with the performance specification outlined by
Engineering Harmonics from Canada, and we managed to comply
on nearly all of these aspects.”
Bessy added further support for the choice: “Electro-Voice had
already been specified in other churches and HoW for INC so we
were already familiar with the brand, but Electro-Voice did pass
through the same procedures as other bidders. The consultant
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large format line arrays, while the Philippine Arena uses the midrange line arrays from the XLCi Series.
EVI’s Product Manager, Reynald Rodil, who was heavily involved
with the project continued: “The position of where to hang the
loudspeakers was determined by Engineering Harmonics. From
there, we had to calculate the angles and how many boxes per
hang. EASE modelled software did this for us with global support
from Bosch.”
A total of 18 Electro-Voice XLCi127DVX line array clusters have
been installed at the Arena, 12 hangs for the upper bowl and six
hangs for the lower bowl, and each hang consisting of 16 cabinets.
Lito said: “We could have simply installed 12 boxes per hang, but we
opted for 16 to allow for some headroom. When the Arena is full for
an event and the people are shouting, you soon realise those extra
boxes were needed.”
To supplement the lower bowl loudspeaker system, there are a
further four line arrays, each comprising 10 Electro-Voice XLCi215
high output subwoofers. While another two Electro-Voice XLD281
three-way compact line arrays - each featuring 14 cabinets - are
installed near the retractable seating area for rear fill.
All of the hangs mentioned so far are static in their position and
none come close to testing the weight load allowance per point. EVI
had the option to fly a rig weighing up to 1,800kg per hang, but in
reality the line arrays that have been installed are all in the region
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of 1,200kg. Prosound from South Africa custom made the mounting
brackets for these 20 arrays. Prosound’s Technical Director, Mark
Malherbe worked closely on the installation providing guidance and
his expert knowledge. After visiting the site, Mark and his team
designed the exoskeleton frames - constructed in two sections for
ease of handling - for the line arrays to slot into. Due to the slight
differences between the flying angles of the array, six variants of the
exoskeleton frames were required.
Aside from the upper and lower bowl systems, the Philippine Arena
is also home to another four line arrays, which are positioned
over the floor area. Each line array includes 16 Electro-Voice
XLC127DVX cabinets, these are from Electro-Voice’s touring series
of products rather than the installation series. “These line arrays can
be used as a FOH system, they can be moved and reconfigured
depending on the size of the stage. Or if there’s a basketball
event for example, the four hangs fire downwards to provide full
coverage for the entire floor area,” explained Lito. To complete
the cabinet line-up in the Arena are eight Electro-Voice Xsub dual
18-inch subwoofers and 16 Electro-Voice QRx 112/75 two-way
loudspeakers for front fill.
A total of 232 Electro-Voice TG7 touring amplifiers, which offer
3,500W per channel into two ohm,s provide power for 28 line
arrays, the groundstacked subwoofers and the front fill loudspeakers
in the Arena. The amplifiers feature an RCM-26 remote control
module to enable IRIS-Net compatible DSP and are Dante
compliant for audio distribution. Reynald commented: “Everything
is networked through IRIS-Net so we can control and monitor the
temperature of the amplifiers, we can monitor the health of the
amplifiers and loudspeakers, right down to the drivers. It’s a very
sophisticated system.”
The amplifiers themselves have been installed in the roof, so they
are physically close to the line arrays, preventing huge amounts
of cabling. Prosound made this part of the installation even
smoother by supplying EVI with pre-terminated cables - with the
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pin configuration already in place - therefore it was just a case of
plugging the connecting cables into the amplifier racks.
Audio networking for the system continues with 44 Electro-Voice
Netmax N8000 digital matrix controllers equipped with Dante
module cards and analogue and digital I/O cards. The Netmax
system works in conjunction with the IRIS-Net protocol to provide
flexible routing, DSP, and component-level system control for the
Arena, as well as offering the ability to alter the EQ, crossovers,
dynamics and loudspeaker optimisation.
Reynald explained the audio network further: “The network design
was based on advice sought from Audinate, a recommendation from
Prosound and what INC wanted, which was a core switch, so we
upgraded from a standard network switch to an enterprise switch
so it conforms to the ICT infrastructure of the church. INC also
wanted to be able to manage the system from its office in Quezon
City, managing all its facilities from a single command centre. To do
that, all INC venues have to be on the same network infrastructure,
meaning we had to comply with those requirements.” Cisco Catalyst
2950 network switches were installed to take care of the Dante
network and the IRIS-Net control, while Cisco Catalyst 4500 core
switches looks after audio distribution.
When it came to tuning the system, the biggest problem EVI faced
was slap back, which was present in the Arena, mainly due to the
lack of acoustic design. However, after two weeks of time alignment
and testing the sound when the Arena was full of people, the slap
back became almost unnoticeable.
The biggest test of the sound came, of course, with the centennial
celebrations. For this, Mark of Prosound was on mixing duty - an
experience he described as a privilege to be part of. Mark mixed
the event on the in-house console set-up, which includes two Avid
Venue Profile mixing systems equipped with 96 channels, one for
FOH and one for monitors and an Avid Euphonix System 5-B for
broadcast.
Aside from the Arena, EVI also installed some Electro-Voice
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loudspeakers in the foyer area, known as the entry fill loudspeaker
system. In total 56 Electro-Voice Zx1i-100T passive loudspeakers
were specified for the periphery of the building, which are powered
by three Electro-Voice CPS 8.5 eight-channel amplifiers and one
Electro-Voice CPS 4.5 four-channel amplifiers. Similar to the main
system racks, these amplifiers are equipped with an RCM-810
module for IRIS-Net control and are Dante enabled.
In addition to all the permanently installed technology at the
Philippine Arena, there is a healthy line-up of portable audio
equipment, which can be brought in and out as and when it’s needed
for a particular event. The portable sound system comprises 16
Electro-Voice QRx115/75 full range loudspeakers, four ElectroVoice QRx 218S compact subwoofers and 20 Dynacord CXM 15
stage monitors. Amplification and loudspeaker management for
the portable system is provided by nine Electro-Voice CPS 4.10
Class-D amplifiers and once again these are compliant with the
IRIS-Net and Dante protocols. There are also four Electro-Voice
ELX112P self-powered loudspeakers and a Dynacord Cobra 4
system accompanied by a Dynacord CMS-1600-3 mixing system to
complete the portable line-up.
The Arena has 18 channels of wireless handheld microphones
with Wisycom and DPA microphone heads, and 18 wireless lapel
microphones with DPA lapel microphone element. The wireless
system can perform a frequency scan of the entire venue to
determine which frequencies are still available for use. Additionally,
the wireless microphone antenna system provides reliable, stable,
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and wider coverage. Other microphones available at the Arena
include Electro-Voice, Neumann, Shure, Earthworks, Sennheiser,
and AKG, meaning that any performer at the Arena should have
access to their desired choice of microphone.
Though audio is the primary technology focus at the Arena, it is
worth mentioning its two LED screens - each measuring 22-metres
by 12-metres - which provide additional viewing points for the
audience. While for lighting, INC has kept permanent equipment to a
minimum, preferring to rent equipment in on an event-by-event basis.
For the centennial celebrations the entire venue was awash with
colour thanks to Lighting Director, John Batalla’s lighting design.
He specified more than 200 Clay Paky Sharpy moving heads, 30
Fine Art FINE 2000 Beam fixtures, 80 Fine Art FINE 2000 Wash
moving heads, 60 Fine Art FINE 2000 Spot luminaires, 24 Martin
Professional Viper intelligent lights and 100 Martin Professional MAC
101 LED lights all controlled via five Avolites Pearl Expert lighting
consoles.
The fixtures were hung on the Arena’s truss grid system, which was
designed, constructed and installed by local company Stage Riggers.
COO of Stage Riggers, Joel Inumerable said: “The truss grid system
had to be strong enough to carry a substantial amount of loads,
however, had to be lightweight at the same time, so not to impose
too much dead load on the roof trusses.” More than 1,000-metres of
custom-made aluminium truss designed and fabricated using highgrade aluminium alloy using 6061-T6 by Stage Riggers was installed
at the Arena. Joel continued: “The roof trusses of the dome were
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FRANÇAIS
La première structure à être complétée dans un nouveau complexe
touristique de pointe de 75 hectares à Bulacan, aux Philippines, est
l’Aréna des Philippines, un lieu pouvant accueillir jusqu’à 55 000
personnes, appartenu par la « New Era University », un établissement
d’enseignement de l’église Ni Cristo (INC), une religion à dominante
chrétienne. Bien qu’appartenant à l’église, l’Aréna ne sera pas uniquement
utilisée comme lieu de culte, car elle est maintenant ouverte au public et
accepte les réservations pour tous types d’événements. Les propriétaires
voulaient construire une arène grandiose qui serait reconnue à l’échelle
mondiale ; par conséquent, presque tous les principaux secteurs ont fait
l’objet d’un appel d’offres. Les premiers entrepreneurs en bâtiment à
être nommés étaient les architectes australiens Populous, les experts
en structures Buro Happold et les constructeurs coréens, Hanwha
E&C. Deux tours de soumission d’offres ont eu lieu pour le contrat
audio et finalement celui-ci fut attribué à EVi Distribution, le distributeur
de Electro-Voice aux Philippines. L’arène représente maintenant la
deuxième plus grande installation de Electro-Voice au monde. Bien
que l’entreprise EVi n’ait pas réalisé de projets de cette ampleur
auparavant, celle-ci a été soutenue par des sociétés mères comme
Bosch, Prosound d’Afrique du Sud et Tony Sawyer de Electro-Voice
au Moyen-Orient. L’entreprise locale, Stage Riggers est également
responsable de la conception, de la construction et de l’installation du
système de grille en treillis qui comprend plus de 1000 mètres de treillis.
designed and constructed by Hanwha E&C and it was designed
as a space frame system. Therefore, we designed the truss grid
system to be suspended from the joint ball of the space frame, as
this was the only point in the entire roof system strong enough to
carry the load required.”
More than 70 Prolyte Prolyft Aetos chain hoist motors were required
to lift the truss grid into position, 32-metres above floor level.
Joel said: “Prolyft Aetos motors are very reliable and jam free, we
have been using these motors for more than seven years now. We
recommended the Prolyft motors to the construction and project
managers of the Arena and they approved them.”
The Philippine Arena is just the tip of the iceberg for the Ciudad de
Victoria complex. The initial design of the development has been
likened to the Narra tree - the national tree of the Philippines - with
the many different areas of the complex representing the many
branches of the Narra tree and the time it will take for the entire
project to be complete illustrative of the long growth period required
for the Narra tree to mature.
Other structures are already underway at Ciudad de Victoria,
including the Eraño G. Manalo (EGM) Medical Centre, New Era
University, the Philippine Stadium, and the Philippine Sports Centre.
There are plans in place for a shopping centre and large scale
residential developments. By all accounts, Ciudad de Victoria looks
set to become a small city in its own right.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
SOUND
INSTALLED: 288 x Electro-Voice XLCi127DVX line array element;
64 x Electro-Voice XLCi215 subwoofer; 28 x Electro-Voice
XLD281 line array element; 64 x Electro-Voice XLC127DVX
line array element; 8 x Electro-Voice Xsub subwoofer; 16 x
Electro-Voice QRx 112/75 loudspeaker; 56 Electro-Voice Zx1i100T passive loudspeaker; 232 x Electro-Voice TG7 amplifier;
44 x Electro-Voice Netmax N8000 digital matrix controller;
3 x Electro-Voice CPS 8.5 amplifier; 1 x Electro-Voice CPS
4.5 amplifier; 2 x Avid Venue Profile mixing system; 1 x Avid
Euphonix System 5-B broadcast console; Cisco Catalyst
2950 network switches; Cisco Catalyst 4500 core switches;
microphones from Electro-Voice, Neumann, Shure, DPA,
Earthworks, Sennheiser, AKG
PORTABLE: 16 x Electro-Voice QRx115/75 loudspeaker; 4 x
Electro-Voice QRx 218S subwoofer; 20 x Dynacord CXM 15
stage monitor; 9 x Electro-Voice CPS 4.10 Class-D amplifier; 4 x
Electro-Voice ELX112P self-powered loudspeaker; 1 x Dynacord
Cobra 4 loudspeaker system; 1 x Dynacord CMS-1600-3 mixing
system
TRUSSING & RIGGING
1,000-metres of truss by Stage Riggers; 32 x Prolyte Prolyft
Aetos hoist; 20 x Prosound custom-made exoskeleton frame
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DEUTSCH
Die erste Struktur, die auf einem neuen, hochmodernen, 75 Hektar
großen Tourismuskomplex in der philippinischen Provinz Bulacan
fertiggestellt wurde, ist die Philippine Arena, einem Treff mit bis zu
55.000 Plätzen, der sich im Besitz der New Era University befindet,
einem Bildungsinstitut von Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), einer christlichen Kirche.
Obwohl sich die Arena im Besitz der Kirche befindet, wird sie nicht nur
als Gebetsstätte benutzt, sondern ist auch für ganz unterschiedliche
Veranstaltungen vorgesehen. Die Besitzer wollten eine WeltklasseArena bauen, die weltweit anerkannt wird. Deswegen wurde beinahe
jeder wichtige Bereich des Projekts ausgeschrieben. Die ersten unter
Vertrag genommenen Unternehmer waren die australischen Architekten
Populous, die Statik-Experten Buro Happold und das koreanische
Bauunternehmen Hanwha E&C. Es gab zwei Ausschreibungsrunden
für den Audiovertrag, doch letztendlich wurde dieser Vertrag an EVi
Distribution, Vertriebshändler von Electro-Voice in den Philippinen,
vergeben. Die Arena repräsentiert die weltweit zweitgrößte Installation von
Electro-Voice. Obwohl EVi zuvor noch nie an einem solch großen Projekt
gearbeitet hat, wurde das Unternehmen durch die Muttergesellschaft
Bosch, Prosound aus Südafrika und Tony Sawyer von Electro-Voice
Naher Osten unterstützt. Das heimische Unternehmen Stage Riggers
war für den Entwurf, den Bau und die Installation des Gitterträgersystems
verantwortlich, das mehr als 1.000 Meter Gitterträger umfasst.
ITALIANO
La prima struttura ad essere completata in un nuovo complesso turistico
di eccellenza di 75 ettari, a Bulacan nelle Filippine, è la Philippine Arena,
un locale che arriva fino a 55.000 posti, di proprietà della New Era
University, un istituto d’istruzione di Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), una religione
denominativa cristiana. Anche se di proprietà della chiesa, l’Arena non
sarà usata solo come un luogo di culto, ma ora è aperta ed accetta
prenotazioni per tutti i diversi tipi di eventi. I proprietari volevano costruire
un’arena che sarebbe stata riconosciuta a livello mondiale, quindi quasi
ogni ruolo fondamentale per il progetto è stato messo in gara. I primi
appaltatori ad essere nominati sono stati gli architetti australiani Populous,
gli esperti strutturali Buro Happold e i costruttori edili coreani Hanwha
E&C. Per il contratto audio ci sono volute due battute, ma alla fine il
contratto è stato assegnato a EVi Distribution, distributore di ElectroVoice nelle Filippine. L’Arena rappresenta oggi la seconda più grande
installazione di Electro-Voice in tutto il mondo. Anche se EVi non aveva
mai realizzato prima un progetto di questa portata, la società è stata
sostenuta dal partner Bosch, Prosound dal Sud Africa e Tony Sawyer
di Electro-Voice Medio Oriente. La società locale, Stage Riggers, si è
anche occupata della progettazione, della costruzione e dell’installazione
del sistema dell’americana, che comprende più di 1.000 metri di traliccio.
ESPAÑOL
La primera estructura en ser finalizada en el complejo turístico de 75
hectáreas y de última generación en Bulacan, Filipinas, es el Philippine
Arena, un lugar con capacidad de hasta 55.000 personas, propiedad
de la Universidad Nueva Era, un instituto educacional de la Iglesia en
Cristo (INC), de denominación Cristiana. A pesar de pertenecer a
una iglesia, el Estadio no solo será utilizado como casa de adoración,
sino que actualmente se encuentra tomando reservas para todo tipo
de eventos diferentes. Los dueños quisieron construir un estadio de
primer nivel que fuera reconocido mundialmente. Por lo tanto, casi
todos los roles principales del proyecto fueron llamados a licitación.
Los primeros contratistas en ser convocados fueron los arquitectos
australianos Populous, los expertos en estructuras Buro Happold y los
constructores Coreanos, Hanwha E&C. Para el contrato de la parte
del audio se realizaron dos rondas de licitaciones pero finalmente el
contrato fue otorgado a EVi Distribution, distribuidor de Electro-Voice
en las Filipinas. El Arena representa actualmente la segunda instalación
más grande de Electro-Voice del mundo. A pesar de que EVi no había
llevado a cabo un proyecto de esta envergadura anteriormente, la empresa
tuvo el soporte de Bosch, Prosound de Sudáfrica y Tony Sawyer de
Electro-Voice Medio Oriente. La empresa local, Stage Riggers también
fue responsable de diseñar, construir e instalar el sistema de estructuras
metálicas colgantes compuesto por más de 1.000 metros de abrazaderas.