Antoni Gerges

Hakawi Sharqia, the Ramadan tent on the Emirates Golf Club lawn, Dubai, Ramadan 2017

The red carpet across the golf course at dusk, between lit palm sculptures, to the glass marquee lit blue, towers on the skyline

Hakawi Sharqia

Ramadan tent · Emirates Golf Club lawn, Dubai · 2017

Hakawi Sharqia · Ramadan tent · the marquee on the Emirates Golf Club lawn, Dubai · Ramadan 2017 · with MCX

A night venue, built from nothing.

For the month of Ramadan 2017 we built a night venue from nothing on the lawn of Emirates Golf Club: a glass marquee where people broke the day’s fast at sunset and stayed until 3 a.m. We named it, designed it, dressed it, and built a TV studio inside it, where a talk show went out live every night.

The event was ours: owned, produced and organized, with MCX.

Antoni Gerges · Partner, Creative Director & Co-producer, through AntBrush

From the pencil sketch to the gold screen

A pencil line: the arch.

Teal canopies, lanterns and white lounges.

Made for long nights after the fast.

White leather lounges with blue and patterned cushions under teal canopy swags, a lantern on a white table, brass lanterns hanging from the roof.
The lounges · 28 May

Inside the tent, a TV studio.

Al Aan TV broadcast a talk show live from here every night at midnight; its own cameras and crew ran the show.

The studio inside the tent: the gold lattice arch in a dark frame on a silver truss, flood lights rigged above, two crew members on ladders finishing it.
The studio, built inside the tent · May 2017

With Al Aan TV, Al Arabiya 99 FM, Harlequin, FLOW and Emirates Golf Club.

The club’s kitchens served the food and drink; Al Aan TV ran the cameras of its show; Harlequin put up the marquee; FLOW brought the power and the cooling.

The same marquee came back in July as QD’s 2.0, the summer venue on the same lawn.

Explore the tentThe red carpet, the name, the first sketch, the shell, the welcome, its mark and its guests, the nights, and what we delivered.
The scope

What we delivered.

Everything the guests saw, owned, produced and organized with MCX.

Ours, with MCX

  • The name and the identity
  • The venue, planned with the marquee partner, and its interior
  • The TV studio for Al Aan TV’s nightly live show, and the show’s own mark
  • The guests booked for the show
  • The sound in the tent

Campaign & print

  • Radio, a TV promo, social, e-mail and SMS
  • Menus, placemats, banners and signage

Partners

  • Al Aan TV, Al Arabiya 99 FM, Harlequin, FLOW, Emirates Golf Club
  • Not ours: the food and drink (the club’s kitchens) and the cameras of the show (Al Aan TV)
  • The pencil sketch of the arch, held up in the empty tent.
    The sketch
  • The gold lattice screen’s arched top against the truss.
    The gold screen
  • The fretwork reception counter.
    The counter
  • A brass lantern, close.
    The lanterns

From the mail of April to June 2017 and the photographs of the build and the nights.

A red carpet across a golf course.

To a lit marquee on the lawn of Emirates Golf Club: Ramadan nights, sunset to 3 a.m.

A red carpet between lit palm sculptures and a white picket fence, leading across the lawn at dusk to a glass marquee lit blue, its pagoda entrance glowing, towers on the skyline behind.
The approach at dusk · 28 May 2017

Hakawi Sharqia: Eastern tales.

We named it and drew its mark in Arabic calligraphy: a month of evenings told like stories.

The white marquee on the green lawn at golden hour: a long glass hall with a curved roof and a pagoda-roofed entrance at its end.
The marquee on the Emirates Golf Club lawn · 28 May

It began as a pencil arch.

Drawn by hand inside the empty tent: the studio’s screen, before anything was built.

A hand holds up a pencil sketch of an arch with a pointed top and draped sides, inside the empty marquee, a truss frame behind.
The sketch, held up in the empty tent · May 2017

Built from 16 May, open on 27 May: eleven days

The shell, 22 May.

A fretwork counter for every guest.

The same pattern wrapped the buffets.

The reception: a white counter wrapped in gold fretwork, a lattice screen behind it, lanterns on the floor, the hall beyond.
The reception counter · 27 May
A dessert counter wrapped in the same white fretwork, trays of cakes and pastries on tiered stands.
The dessert counter

Its mark, and its guests.

We designed the show’s mark too, and booked its guests: actors and singers.

The set floor before the show: two white armchairs and a sofa on a rug, a lamp lit between them, a ladder and a red rope at the side.
The set, before the first night

Every night until 3 a.m.

Families, friends and companies, for the whole month; one channel hosted its own staff iftar for 200 here.

RoleAntoni Gerges
Partner, Creative Director & Co-producer, through AntBrush
The eventOurs: owned, produced and organized, with MCX
PartnersAl Aan TV · Al Arabiya 99 FM · Harlequin · FLOW · Emirates Golf Club
PhotographsThe event’s own record, May and June 2017

On Live shows, with QD’s 2.0: the same marquee, the summer after.

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