Photos courtesy Christie Digital Systems Canada
Calgary’s new science centre is welcoming visitors with a variety of dynamic signage technologies, including a video wall and digital projectors, provided by Christie Digital Systems Canada, based in Kitchener, Ont.
A tour of the Telus Spark science centre, which opened on October 29, 2011, begins in a two-storey tall atrium that showcases the video wall. Set between the gift store and the feature gallery, the wall is an 8 x 6-unit array of Christie’s MicroTile modular digital displays. Built-in sensors enable automatic colour calibration between the tiles to maintain uniform appearance across the array from any viewing angle.
“There is a very large window on the south side that lets in a lot of sunlight, which illuminates the entire atrium,” explains Dennis Cheng, the science centre’s audiovisual (AV) manager. “The light-emitting diode-based (LED-based) MicroTiles were the only products bright enough to overcome that issue of ambient light.”
A second array of 22 MicroTiles is slated for installation later this year. It will serve as a donor recognition wall, honouring large-scale contributions to the facility.
The atrium also uses Christie’s Roadie HD+35K projector to display images on a 9 x 5-m (30 x 16-ft) screen suspended from a movable truss more than 9 m above the floor. Meanwhile, seven DWU670-E Digital Light Processing (DLP) projectors are deployed for other display purposes throughout the science centre, including two on mobile carts.
Finally, a CP2220 projector is installed in the facility’s 164-seat presentation theatre.
