SOLUTIONS: ORBITARIUM OF TECHNORAMA SWITZERLAND
A star attraction
A pioneering science centre is using globe and curved canvas projection to create a 3D ‘Cosmic Theatre’ that brings shows to life
Audiences are enjoying the unique show
Sun, the stars and so on.” This show was given the
FROM ITS location in the town of Winterthur, the Swiss Science Center Technorama offers a series of experimental spaces that gives visitors of all ages and backgrounds the chance to become acquainted with natural phenomena in an informal, hands-on way. One such space is the Orbitarium, which first opened in 2008 as a way of giving visitors an ‘astronaut’s eye’ of planet Earth and the natural events that take place around it such as hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and so on.
The exhibit used a
projected globe as its centrepiece, and was considered a success. But, as Thomas Hofer, visualisation director of Technorama explains, there was something missing: “As important and interesting as natural phenomena may be, they appeared isolated and lacking in real-life relevance in the original Orbitarium design. We decided we needed to develop a show that would put Earth in the context of the space that surrounds it – the Moon, the
SOLUTIONS: SOWETO THEATRE SOUTH AFRICA
Taking to the stage
A thriving new arts and cultural space is creating a buzz in the Jabulani district of Soweto
The ZAR150 million (€15 million) Soweto Theatre is part of an ambitious redevelopment plan by the City of Johannesburg and the first theatre to open in a South African township. The new venue features three performance spaces – a 420- seat main proscenium arch auditorium and two studio venues of 180 and 90 capacities respectively. The striking building was designed by Afritects headed by Lawrence Cithwe and Clara del Santiago and has been fitted with over 200 ETC Source Four luminaires, including 72 Source Four Fresnels. Supplied by
48 August 2012
Johannesburg-based ETC dealer Prosound, the Source Four luminaires act as the workhorses in the main auditorium and feature in the overhead rigs in the two studio spaces. “ETC Source Four Fresnels
were a late entry into the competition,” says Denis Hutchinson, theatre consultant on the project. “ETC flew a unit out to South Africa for me to test and I was very pleasantly surprised. To the eye at least the output is comparable to a 1,200W Fresnel and of course you are only running 750W, so from the green perspective it’s a better unit.”
DWR, Robe’s South African
distributor, was also involved in the project, with 30 ROBIN 300 LED washes and 12 ROBIN 600E spots also specified for use across the three spaces. Hutchinson adds: “Robe is a
very solid and reliable brand in my experience, and units certainly need to be robust in this environment, where they will be in almost daily use for many different scenarios.” As this is a drama venue, quiet operation of the fixtures was an issue; Hutchinson also wanted units that would give the most creative scope and variety possible while being lightweight and offering low
The main 420-seat auditorium features ETC and Robe lighting
power consumption. DWR also supplied a number of generic lights, dimmers and a grandMA2 light and two ultra-light consoles for control. The first production in the
Soweto Theatre was The Suitcase, a duologue adapted by director James Ngcobo.
www.dwrdistribution.co.za www.etcconnect.com www.malighting.com www.prosound.co.za www.robe.cz
[INSTALLED]
LIGHTING ETC Source Four luminaires Robe ROBIN 300 LED washes Robe ROBIN 600E spots
CONTROL MA Lighting grandMA2 light and ultra-light consoles
www.installation-international.com
title Planet Earth Cosmic Oasis, and Technorama’s technical staff began working on ways in which the Orbitarium could be enhanced to make the show come to life. “Life on Earth doesn’t rely on our planet alone,” continues Hofer. “It relies on its neighbourhood in the solar system, so what could be better than to expand the horizon of the Orbitarium with a huge, panoramic canvas in the background?” While neither the curved,
panoramic canvas nor the projected globe are new ideas in themselves, the combination of the two together to create a three- dimensional ‘Cosmic Theatre’ is what sets the Orbitarium project apart from any other installation. The creation of such a space created a number of technical issues, as Hofer explains: “To completely illuminate the background canvas without the globe
casting shadows in front was made possible only by a combination of specific short- throw projector lenses and significant use of lens shift. Another challenge was to control the presence of unwanted light which might come from any of three sources: the background canvas projection, the globe projection, and the light from outside the Orbitarium. All of these are capable of casting unwanted diffuse light onto the wrong surfaces.” Technorama staff carried out much of the AV system design and integration work themselves, and Hofer says projectiondesign was the obvious choice. “We’re using two FL32 ReaLED projectors for the globe projection and two edge-blended cineo32 projectors for the panoramic canvas. Both pairs of projectors are running at full 1080p resolution. “We evaluated a lot of
different projector combinations but only projectiondesign was able to meet our specific needs for
[INSTALLED]
VIDEO All projectiondesign FL32 ReaLED projectors cineo32 projectors
performance, lens-throw ratio and reliability. We also received wonderful support during installation from projectiondesign’s headquarters in Norway and from the company’s Swiss distributor Visopta.” A fully automated multimedia show that can be controlled via touchscreen by Technorama staff, Planet Earth Cosmic Oasisplays twice a day to capacity audiences of 60 at a time and has earned rave reviews from audiences. Anders Løkke, marketing
director, projectiondesign, concludes: “We are continually amazed at the way our end-customers keep finding new ways to use our projection technology, and the Orbitarium at Technorama is a great example of this. We’re delighted to be associated with this pioneering project and look forward to many more such installations in the future.”
www.projectiondesign.com www.visopta.ch
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