Education City, Doha (QAT)

ewo supplied over 300 custom-made luminaires for the lighting of the so-called "People Mover System" in Education City, the university center of Doha.

The "People Mover System" consists of 17 electric streetcar stops with a minimalist design by Grimshaw Architects. The system, which does not require overhead lines, makes it easy to move around the campus in conjunction with other modes of transportation. The stops are located along an 11.5-kilometer route, which is served by 17 streetcars with a capacity of 233 passengers each.

To illuminate this infrastructure, ewo supplied over 300 customized, trapezoidal luminaires. Each luminaire was milled from a single block of aluminum and is equipped with LED modules in the upper part for symmetrical uplighting. They illuminate the carefully structured steel and glass canopy of the stops and have a PMMA cover to protect against infiltration. In the lower part, an arrangement of asymmetrical lenses—with and without a satin finish—provides indirect lighting for the waiting areas below. The luminaires are attached horizontally to the ends of the roof support structure with flanges.

This new form of passenger transportation placed special demands on electromagnetic compatibility: in order for the lights to function properly, several laboratory tests were required to ensure compliance with several standards (EN50121-4, EN/IEC61000 6-2 and EN/IEC61000 6-4).

The project was realized over a period of two years, from the initial drawing and design phase to the delivery of the products. The British company Arup was commissioned to develop the lighting design. The lighting technicians had to be developed in such a way that it would fit into the housing designed by the architects.