FEATURE: VISITOR ATTRACTIONS 27 Case Study
Sarner helps celebrate Amundsen achievement
The Fram Museum is located at Bygdøy, a short distance from the centre of Oslo, and recently added an exhibition featuring the Gjøa, which is housed in a newly completed building adjacent to the museum, and linked by a tunnel. The Gjøa was the first vessel to transit the fabled Northwest Passage with explorer Roald Amundsen. Creative design and AV systems integrator Sarner was responsible for the install, which comprises
a three-projector, 10m-wide screen. Images are delivered by Panasonic HD PT-DZ680ELK projectors, and Sarner deployed an AV Stumpfl media engine with Wings Vioso for show control. The overall image resolution is over 4,000 pixels. For audio, Sarner installed Bowers & Wilkins CT range speakers for surround sound, together with
Rotel RMB1506 amplifiers. The theatre also serves as a presentation facility, so includes an AMX control system that handles the
lighting, source selection and audio. As the Gjøa exhibition forms part of the Fram Museum, Sarner linked all the equipment to the main building so that both parts of the museum can be controlled from a single point.
barriers to entry.” “A track record and
experience in the field are both vital,” echoes Magri, adding that being a sizeable company can be important when dealing with prospects with large budgets. “Relevant experience is
paramount,” concurs Yag Depala, head of public sector at UK integrator Reflex. “Beyond that, an integrator needs strong technical design and build teams with access to the right product portfolio. The potential for building restrictions and live builds can create installation challenges which need professional project management skills and flexible installation teams.” “New companies
‘Companies, institutions and museums are more and more ready to invest in sophisticated multimedia’ Tobias Stumpfl, AV Stumpfl
announced via the tender process has not changed much,” says Ross Magri, MD of Sarner. “On the other hand, privately funded projects have had a difficult time although we are seeing an increase in enquiries.” “The UK market is
currently a bit flat, but there is much renewed growth in the Middle East with some mega projects happening in most of the Gulf States,” says David Willrich, managing director of DJ Willrich and president of the Europe and Middle East Board for the Themed Entertainment Association. “The Asian market is also
growing fast, particularly in China.”
It is also apparent that, in business opportunity terms, not all types of attraction are created equal. Industry commentators note that those driven by tourism and theme parks are currently the most vibrant, along with temporary exhibitions, while smaller, more localised venues are seeing less growth. “Tourism has historically been the main driving force,” believes Magri. “Visitor attractions, by their nature, are designed for one-off visits, which can easily exhaust the local
market. However, this is not the case with tourism where there is a continuous feed of new visitors.” “Looking at the global
attractions industry, theme parks are having a major renaissance at the moment in terms of the type of attraction that is being installed, with our interactive dark rides and immersive dome- centric attractions taking precedence over traditional outdoor coasters,” notes Hetherington. “The markets where we are seeing the most uptake for this at the moment are Asia and the Middle East.”
Catch-22 Any market showing any kind of growth is, of course, potentially attractive to an integrator – but how easy is the visitor attractions market to break into? Inevitably, there are challenges – and the first of those is a classic ‘Catch-22’ challenge which has much to do with the risk aversion associated with highly visible, often mission-critical and often 24/7 installations.
“This part of the industry runs on reputation and word of mouth,” avers Willrich, “so experience is probably top of the list of
that want to enter this market need to not only have a broad technical understanding of a huge range of AV solutions,” adds Sormani, “but also have to be able to communicate with the designers of these projects on a creative level, thus being able to translate the ideas of the designers to the best possible technical solution within budget. Also, depending where you are coming from as a company, the culture is often not so ‘B2B’ as with a government or a bank, so improvisation skills and flexibility are a plus.” “After reputation, the second most important challenge would be being ready to deal with inappropriate contracts for AV companies,” continues Willrich. “Large projects employ project management companies, and sadly, not all properly understand the market; they use building contracts and principles to run museum projects and don’t allow enough time with a
August 2014
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