NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — The Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, at 470,000 square feet one of the largest non-gaming facility of its kind in the eastern U.S., opened earlier this year with ETC control products at the heart of its lighting system.
The facility’s major meeting rooms include an 180,000 square-foot exhibit hall, four ballrooms ranging from 50,000 to 8,100 square feet, 74 breakout rooms and an 18-story, 1.65 acre multi-level atrium, with a total of 470,000 square feet of space. The Cherry Blossom Ballroom is shown here.
The Gaylord property serves as the cornerstone of a $4 billion, 300-acre, mixed-use waterfront destination at National Harbor, Maryland, set along a 1 ¼ mile panoramic stretch of the Potomac River.
The ETC control products are designed to complement the facility’s architectural spaces, adapt to the needs of a wide range of events, be simple for staff to operate and ensure uninterrupted service in all weather conditions. They’re used in most spaces in the building.
The ETC lighting package consists of 49 Sensor+ Advanced Features dimmer racks, more than 1,600 ETC dimmer modules, ETC Unison architectural processors and an ETC software control network.
The two most formal ballrooms — the Cherry Blossom Ballroom and the Woodrow Wilson Ballroom — have ornate plaster finishes and crystal fixtures and are very acoustically sensitive. The specs included 33 of ETC’s SineWave dimmer modules, which are designed to eliminate filament hum from light fixtures.
The rooms are also outfitted with theatrical rigging gear, including multiple lighting circuits built into the ceiling, to accommodate productions and events ranging from simple to elaborate.
Because the Potomac region is subject to storms, the facility’s lighting systems are highly redundant. ETC Unison and DimStat control software facilitate simple automated and manual control of both the main dimmer racks and the backup dimmer racks.
“The network level of control is really pretty easy,” said Robin Crews, senior associate of Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc. (WJHW), which provided lighting system design for the building along with WJHW colleagues Ron Baker and John Mathis.
“From the control room you can see each dimmer rack, and it tends to be very graphical in output, so even someone not necessarily highly technically sophisticated can size up problems quickly.”
ETC Unison lighting processors, specified by WJHW, control all the architectural lighting in the hotel and convention center.
Chess McKinney, director of project technologies, Gaylord Entertainment, has been WJHW’s main point of contact for AV and lighting control issues on this and other Gaylord projects, past and present. “His input is of great value as it gives us the owner’s and operator’s perspective on each technical system,” said Crews.
WJHW went with Advanced Feature ETC Sensor+ dimmers to ensure robust functionality. “Gaylord generally favors the products that will have a longer life, because they are always in use,” says Crews. “The National Harbor property operates 24/7.”
Another benefit of ETC’s technology is that lighting systems like the one at National Harbor may be set up to be monitored from off-site locations. This extra technical back-up helps provide peace of mind for businesses who cannot tolerate any downtime and who like to have help watching over the integrity of their infrastructure.
For more information, please visit www.etcconnect.com.
