Calile Hotel: Extreme Hospitality

The Calile was always going to be a special hotel. Amongst the many hotel openings in Brisbane for 2018, it was a big challenge to stand out but the challenge was met. Spanning half a city block and eight stories tall, this opulent building features a raw industrial finish with exposed concrete, stone, Travertine and cork-lined walls and floors. An integral element of the external façade is the 270,000 white bricks that line the arches and first level, only making way for breeze block openings aiming into the corridors. All of these design elements bring to life a building that is eminently suited to Brisbane’s fine sub-tropical climate. The hotel also features 178 guest rooms, 30m pool surrounded by palm trees and cabanas, an award-winning restaurant (Hellenika), cocktail bar called Lobby Bar, and a retail arcade featuring among other things, a number of exclusive fashion boutiques.

HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

Soho Sound Design was engaged from the beginning of the project to design, supply and install a world class audiovisual system that would reliably service the hotel’s daily needs with minimal requirement for external equipment and labour hire. Any element of the system had to be easily accessed and changed by staff from in-wall touchpanels, smartphones and tablets. Absolute attention to architectural detail was required such that almost all AV components are hidden or discretely placed along with other fittings to reduce their visual presence.

A crucial and underlying element of the Calile Hotel is the audio experience. Right from the minute a guest parks in the set down to when they enter their room, they are experiencing full-range high fidelity audio. The hotel common areas, pool deck, bars and function rooms are equipped with Meyer Sound MM10XP subwoofers and either MM4XP surfacemount or Ashby 5C in-ceiling tops. The two premier suites each have a Meyer Sound system on their private terraces on Level 7. The IntelligentDC architecture allows for reduced rack sizes and displaced heat generation as each loudspeaker houses its own amplifier. The externally located loudspeakers also have to withstand extreme weather conditions for much of the year including heat and humidity as well as wild storms with torrential downpours. A number of loudspeakers are located in garden beds and planters and receive daily water exposure.