Corporate Video Walls

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Digital signage video wall for leading architect and design exhibition in Italy.
 
Engineering Solutions, a Rome-based pro AV installation company and Christie partner, has used Christie MicroTiles to create an integrated wall display at Milan’s design week ‘Interni Think Tank’ exhibition. Part of the ‘Salone del Mobile’ and ‘Fuori Salone’, the exhibition is key for architects, designers and the luxury interior design industry.
 
Engineering Solutions partnered with Ar-thema International and architect Maurizio Favetta to create a ‘living space’ where designs and solutions for walls and furniture integrate technology with architecture.
 
The main display in the living space that Engineering Solutions and its partners created featured a Mosaico Digitale wall on one side and Christie MicroTiles forming a grand screen on the other. Mosaico Digitale is a product for interior and exterior design that provides insulation and decoration using mosaics that can be arranged as a piece of art. The wall, and in particular the MicroTiles, were the focal point of the installation.
 
Andrea de Martino, Engineering Solution CEO, explained that he chose MicroTiles because it is a suitable technology for this kind of space: “It provides a chameleon kind of solution integrating seamlessly into the environment.”
 
Christie MicroTiles are cubes containing a powerful 1 chip DLP projector with an LED light source. To make installation easier, they come complete with a self-testing system, which allows for colour and brightness uniformity across the cubes. MicroTiles’ features of modularity, light weight and high resolution, make them suitable for applications related to design, entertainment and control rooms.
 
The screen created for this project used 16 MicroTiles cubes, measuring 40x30 cm with a ratio of 4:3 and 36 cm deep. De Martino explained, “The beauty of MicroTiles is that they have a very good viewing angle and their brightness and high resolution make them the perfect platform for the display of art.”
 
In particular, MicroTiles’ ability to auto-set themselves and find the best colour resolution for the whole display was found useful. “With MicroTiles you don’t get different colours in different tiles, they all work together as they auto-sense and self-regulate the neighbouring tiles. Problems like colour spots are a thing of the past,” added de Martino.
 
“This chameleon wall transformed the space, respecting the artistic approach of the architectural design. The video wall was particularly impressive in the evening when its colours were at their best.”
 
Angelo Tacca, CEO of EHome Italia and Christie country manager: “The creation of innovative designs is very important for the Italian market. The Salone del Mobile and the Fuori Salone exhibition attracts visitors from all over the world. At eHome we are happy to support our partners in the development of solutions that use the latest AV technology to achieve outstanding results. This application of MicroTiles is a demonstration of how creativity and technology can work together.”
 
The MicroTiles were run with by a mini Mac which could play a mixture of video, still images and graphics.
 
The exhibition was organised by Interni with the objective of highlighting the need for renewal and change in contemporary design and architecture. International designers and architects were invited to show sustainability and the integration of technology in modern private life and public spaces, through experimental installations. As such, the installation of digital signage technology integrating with architecture and interior design was highly appropriate.
 
Corporate installation
 
PZ Cussons, a multi-national consumer goods company, has relocated from its base in Stockport to a new headquarters on the Manchester Business Park, UK. The company was looking to create a ‘wow’ factor at the entrance to the new flagship site, which was provided through the first European installation of Christie’s new-generation MicroTiles video wall display.
 
The installation was carried out by Lancashire-based Pure Audio Visual under the supervision of Divisional Director Alan Marshall.
 
“As the atrium was glazed on two sides, this presented a conundrum for us,” explained Marshall. “Initially we considered projectors, but then I had a meeting with Joe Graziano, Christie’s Market Development Manager for MicroTiles, and he told me about this new product.”
 
The LED- and DLP-based system is designed for long, reliable commercial use in public areas, with no lamps or other consumable parts to replace. The LED light engine is rated at 65,000 hours to half brightness usage, or nearly 7.5 years of continuous operation.
 
With a screen size of 16” (408mm) wide x 12” (306mm) high, the tiles also feature a shallow depth of only 10” (260mm) and require just 2” (50mm) of minimal clearance for rear ventilation.
 
Since there was not a great deal of space in the atrium, and certainly not a great depth in the wall, narrow seams between displays were important. Aside from this, the resolution and non-reflectivity of the screens were other key factors, as well as the high brightness of the display.
 
Pure AV worked closely with the architect, Peter Fearon-Brown from CBRE, and fit out contractors, Preferred Office Environments, to accommodate a wall, conventionally configured in an 8 x 4 landscape display, mounted 5 metres above the ground in the open foyer.
 
The display (which measures 3.5m x 1.2m) is optimised to enable a resolution of 4800 x 2048. This allows HD content with a stereo audio feed to be broadcast.
 
The content itself has been compiled by SPL, PZ Cussons’ regular video production company, and Pure AV who have created graphics and edited the programme into a 30-minute rolling show.
 
Marshall explained, “We have put an AMX system in to control the videowall and this allows the client to select templates in terms of background and choose stock content from a library of video players, import it and schedule it. There are three video servers feeding the system and a scaler with various inputs.”
 
Since the wireless touch panel is on PZ Cussons’ wireless network they can implement any changes from anywhere in the building.
 
The MicroTiles wall has been carefully sited so that it can be easily seen off axis from each of the landings. The display will serve a vital role in reinforcing the new image of the company and will even take live feeds from the company’s factories overseas.
 
 
Summing up, Chris Colesell said, “This not only fits the space perfectly, but it also fits our culture of being innovative. Our company ethos is about ‘Making the ordinary, extraordinary.’ MicroTiles certainly achieves that.”