SOLUTIONS: CRYSTAL, LONDON UNITED KINGDOM A look into the Crystal ball
The brainchild of electronics engineering company Siemens, London’s Crystal building offers visitors the opportunity to explore an eco-friendly city of the future. But it’s rather more than just a sustainable energy showcase, reports James McGrath
5521 videowall. The company’s XDS-1100
control system – a multichannel video processor – allows collaboration on the display and makes full use of the increased resolution and availability of 3D stereo content. The integrated user- friendly desktop, Barco’s XDS Control Center software, enables mouse and keyboard control of the sources in a Windows desktop environment. The system is connected to
Three sides of a cube-shaped space display 5m- wide projected images. Visitors are invited to ‘Create your own sustainable building’ using a 40in LCD touchscreen; results are shown in the projection and on the input screen
DEVELOPED at a cost of £30 million, the Crystal building on London’s Royal Victoria Dock is replete with technology and exhibits designed to show visitors Siemens’ vision of what an eco-friendly city could look like in 2050. The overall build encompasses an area of 6,300sqm; London-based architectural firm Wilkinson Eyre was behind the building’s sharp glass-clad exterior, while Pringle Brandon handled the interior architectural design. The building’s green
credentials include a Design Stage Certification from global sustainable building assessor BREEAM; with commissioning and final tests still taking place at the building, certification from the LEED green building programme is yet to be confirmed. To create the vision, which is part of the German company’s ‘sustainable cities initiative’, Siemens infused its own technology with other AV systems. These were installed and engineered by international AV integrator Electrosonic – in collaboration with design consultancy Event Communications – to create nine interactive exhibits which stretch across 2,000sqm. The facility also serves as the global base for Siemens’
www.installation-international.com
new Infrastructure and Cities Sector – Centre of Competence Cities: a company division comprising a team of multi-disciplinary urban experts who will help Siemens identify and understand new urban challenges and workable solutions through ongoing research into cities. Electrosonic, Siemens and
Event Communications devised a novel way to engage people with exhibits: upon arrival, visitors receive an RFID-tagged card; they collect a ‘crystal’ at each exhibit, which appears on the tag reader as an illuminated coloured indicator of which zones they have seen. The zones use an array of
AV technology to deliver messages on a range of issues, including water, transport, city design, energy, environment buildings, lighting safety and security, and healthcare. For instance the ‘Forces of Change’ zone features an immersive ‘black box’ theatre. Inside are 10 Panasonic PT DZ6710 projectors, which create a dynamic presentation displaying the challenges of demographic change, urbanisation and climate change in short video loops. Elsewhere, in the ‘Creating Cities’ zone is the Cities Icon
exhibit, which displays images received from the building’s control room on LED panels. Other exhibits here include the Understanding Cities interactive display and the multi-user City Game whose four 24in LCD touch terminals are capped by 5in repeater displays. Rounding off the explorative
exhibition is the ‘Future Life’ zone, which centres on a panoramic show, ‘Enter the City of the Future’. This puts the Crystal building’s ideas into virtual action, applying the facility’s ideas to actual cities. The show is displayed on a 9m curved screen by three more Panasonic DLP projectors with short-throw zoom lenses. 7th Sense servers act as image sources (as they do elsewhere in the exhibition area) and provide both synchronous multichannel replay and image ‘blending and bending’.
MULTIPURPOSE VENUE Operating as a conference venue as well as a museum of the future, the facility also contains a fully equipped boardroom featuring two Barco videowalls. The first, central wall incorporates 20 OL-721 70in Full HD LED displays installed at a 3º curve, while the second comprises a 2 x 2 Barco NSL-
the Cisco fibre network, which features a core switch on each floor of the building and dedicated AV LANs. The XDS connects to the network through the local system firewall and internet security protocol from Siemens. And because the system runs over Siemens’ corporate network, the same information can be displayed on videowalls simultaneously at different boardroom locations globally. Elsewhere in the Crystal
Building, Barco has equipped the auditorium ‘Dome’ with an HDX-W18 projector, which features 18,000 lumens of brightness. It mixes 2D and 3D images and also works through Barco’s XDS system. Energy management and
environment room controls are accessed via Siemens TC1 touchpanels. This allows overall control of the integrated energy
www.7thsensedesign.com www.allen-heath.com www.avstumpfl.com www.barco.com www.chrisitedigital.eu www.displaylite.co.uk www.dvsgroup.com www.eventcomm.com www.electrosonic.co.uk
[INSTALLED]
VIDEO Panasonic PT DZ6710 DLP projectors NEC V462 46in LCD monitors with Visual Planet touch foil overlays Christie FHD551-X LCD 55in narrow bezel screens Barco NSL-5521 videowall Barco OL-721 displays Barco HDX-W18 projector DisplayLite PCTUP462 touchscreens Samsung SM700DXN2 LCD screens DVS Blade HD players 7th Sense servers Draco DVI extenders Wyrestorm HDMI extenders
AUDIO Allen & Heath iDR DSP Tannoy iW6 in-wall speakers Tannoy iW6TS subs
CONTROL Barco XDS-1100 control system Barco XDS Control Centre Software Siemens TC1 touchpanels Medialon Showmaster ST show controller AV Stumpfl SC Master16 show controller
management network supplied by Siemens Building Technology Division.
www.ihse.com www.medialon.com www.nec-display-solutions.com www.panasonic.net www.samsung.com www.siemens.com www.tannoy.com www.wyrestorm.com www.visualplanet.biz
The boardroom features this videowall of 20 Barco OL-721 70in Full HD LED displays installed at a 3º curve, as well as a 2 x 2 Barco NSL-5521 videowall
June 2013 65
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