Projecting the past
Published: MEA
The A/V setup in The Bahrain Monument has seen a large amount of programming required to overcome curvilinear challenges for the projection. James Ling reports
For a museum, A/V technology may not have always been a top priority. But as the level of interactivity for exhibits and the expectations of visitors increases, this has changed. One new facility that has invested heavily in its A/V is the Bahrain National Charter Monument at Sakhir. It has created an immersive A/V environment for its exhibits which have succeeded in overcoming the challenges posed by the buildings curved structure.
Following a number of years of planning, the new museum was commissioned to celebrate the relationship between His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa and the people of Bahrain. The edifice sets out to honour the National Charter – drawn up on February 14th, 2001 – the basis for Bahrain’s path to the future, with the names of the 220,000 citizens who took part inscribed into the exterior.
Set on an 8.45-hectare site close to the Sakhir Palace, the complex consists of a two-storey circular museum, wrapped around a central pond, along with a 65m high sun dial and an amphitheatre.
The overriding objective in the Museum’s design was to express the achievements of the modern Kingdom of Bahrain in a physical form. But creating an infrastructure within the curvilinear design presented its own problems and required an advanced application of multimedia technology.
Ralph Appelbaum Associates were tasked with designing the visitor experience, Fraser Randall were introduced as project managers and planning supervisors, and working under main fit-out contactor, Beck Interiors UK, A/V specialists, DJ Willrich (DJW), undertook full A/V hardware design based around the latest technologies and high-end interactive displays. Beck Interiors had tendered for the specialist areas – working closely with Bahrain’s Ministry of Works – and DJW’s successful bid was based on its track record in museum environments and its previous record of successful projects with Beck.
To meet the video needs of the museum, DJW opted for 58 Christie projectors deployed around the site. The A/V specialist’s system designer, Josh Miller, puts the selection down to the variety of equipment on offer from the manufacturer. ‘They have a wide range in their catalogue, which meant we could remain with one manufacturer the whole way through.’ Prior to the selection, the projectors were subjected to the scrutiny of the project team, for quality assurance. ‘We conducted the tests using the M series because the lamp life was longer and replacement lamps were less expensive,’ explains Mr Miller.
For the installation, DJW has used 13 DS+10K-M SX+ 3-DLP 10,500 lumen projectors; two DS+6K-M SX+ 3-DLP 6300 lumen projectors; 24 DS+655 SXGA+ 6500 lumen DLP projectors; 15 DS+305/305W single-chip 3300 lumen DLP projectors and four DW5K 3-chip DLP 5000 lumen HD projectors. The formats were upscaled to 1080p HD resolution throughout using the Dataton Watchout.
The projectors are used in a series of videoscapes that have been created to show the achievements of Bahrain’s past, before crossing the ‘Bridge of Light’ into a section dedicated to the future, which embraces the Kingdom’s aspirations. In setting up these videoscapes, one of the main challenges facing Mr Miller, was fixing and focusing the projectors on walls that are not only arced but sloped outwards as part of the overall superstructure.
The Monument’s main building has a semicircular shape with two levels that meet at the main entrance hall. The first curvature goes upwards at a slope of 6°, forming the 2,200 sq-m main exhibition space. It then rises to 7.2m above the main entrance level – ascending to reach the main entrance hall and finally leading to the spaces of the main exhibition space. ‘The really complex part was the sloping ceiling, dropping from 10m to 3.5m,’ says Mr Miller. ‘A further complication was created by the presence of the columns, which are situated less than 1m from the projection surface.’
The Monument’s columns feature verses from the Quran, while within the main exhibition gallery, visitors can explore immersive spaces that convey the spirit and achievements of the people via film, images and text, interactives, games, object displays and quotes from His Majesty.
Planning and preparation of the content, which commenced in 2006, had taken more than four years. DJW worked closely with Newangle, which produced 57 interactives using a variety of interfaces that celebrate the past, present and future of the country, as well as Copenhagen-based Homerun, which produced all the HD video content, and Ralph Appelbaum Associates.
The exhibition contains many key zones, none more striking than the opening scene: Pearl of the Gulf. Elsewhere it examines Bahrain’s extensive history as a hub for trade and commerce – and gateways to the future, using a series of interactive games; for instance one is based around a map of the oceans, with visitors playing the role of a dhow captain and trader, transporting cargoes.
Other key themes include ‘Embracing Islam’, which explores the importance of Arab heritage and Islamic faith; ‘Bringing Prosperity’ with five touch-screen interactives; ‘Treasures of the Sea’ featuring a further interactive seabed game, while an immersive video installation enables visitors to hear the songs of the nahham and of the women onshore; ‘Flames of Industry’; ‘The Bridge of Light’ glowing walkway – the pivotal point of the building; ‘Working Together’ which is dominated by a large-scale video installation depicting the power of the Constitution; the three-zone ‘Building/Connecting/Sharing a new Bahrain’ and ‘Preserving Our Gift’. Further interactives and games allow for the exploration of habitats and ecosystems in an area dedicated to the country’s children.
The installation was project managed for DJW by John Doe, and Tim Willrich handled the Dataton programming for the opening feature and the close-out which brings the visitor back round to the entrance. Christie supported the installation from both its UK and Dubai offices.
The Video
Distributed throughout the Monument are five large multi-bay panoramas one measuring 36m in length – stitched together by Dataton Watchout’s soft blend. ‘Where the ceiling is at its lowest, an increasing number of projectors was required for each bay – enabling projectors to be closer to the screen and thus avoiding visitors casting shadows when using touch screens,’ explains Mr Miller.
Each of the three smaller bays are addressed by three short-throw, ceiling-mounted single chip DS+655s, providing moving wallpaper. ‘Each bay is 6.5m wide and all edge blended with Watchout,’ continues DJW’s designer. ‘We chose these projectors specifically for their combination of brightness, lens and quality.’ The larger bays are each covered using a single DS+10K-M projector.
The large Bahraini environmental table map is surrounded by interactive disks – with a Christie DS+305 firing onto each. Proximity sensors are built into the table and the visitor places a hand on the projected button to trigger the relevant video.
In ‘Preserving Our Gift’, where BVI’s are used in the introduction to each section, a cylinder has been cut at 45° and a glass graphic rear projected with a further DS+305. An additional DS+655 projects down onto an illuminated table from above in ‘Connecting to the World’ which generates a trading game, operable via dials. ‘By and large the DS+655s are used for downward projecting onto the tables and providing the videoscapes onto the angled screens, and the DS+305s are used for the discs and interactive projection,’ says Mr Miller.
Interactive 3D touch screens are spread through the exhibition, and for the three ‘creatures of the deep’ interactive tables, the exhibits are fitted with three light sensors in the set landscape and a DS+305 above. Visitors can place their hand above the sensor to trigger the exhibit, and a domestic creature, such as a terrapin, will appear to run across their hands, projected from the DS+305.
One interesting use of projection is at ‘Treasures of the Sea’. This features a single front projection onto a large 3m screen and three rear projection 2m screens stacked vertically – all screens running in sync via Watchout. The rear projection screens again use the single-chip DS+305s, fitted with wide angle lens and a DS+6K-M for the front projection.
Larger format images, each featuring a pair of DS+10K-M projectors can be seen at ‘Embracing Islam’ and ‘Connecting to the World’. ‘Flames of Industry’ finds Christie’s DW5Ks used for the first time – projecting downwards and bouncing the beam off a mirror to create a portrait video image onto a 3.8m x 2.5m projection screen, which has been synchronised with a video on a 46-inch LCD monitor. This was repeated three times to help tell the story of Bahrain’s national corporations, Bapco, Albi and Asri.
The centrepiece of the circular experience – ‘The Charter Show: Working Together’ – is highlighted by three 5m square projections (using DS+10K-Ms) with Watchout graphic panels and loudspeakers built into the benches. Finally, the excursion leads visitors into ‘A New Bahrain’, where a further six DS+10K-Ms are divided in pairs to deliver further footage.
All technology is run from two dedicated control rooms – one for each side of the exhibition. A touch screen start-up activates the Medialon show control, which in turn drives each projector and feeds back data, such as lamp life. Each zone is run independently, and although audio is fed locally from Watchout, there is also a general soundtrack running throughout.
Summing up, Mr Miller says that the exigencies of the curved building stretched DJW’s Autocad skills to the limit. ‘We had to get the exact geometry prepared in Autocad using the Christie calculations as the projectors are all angled, both from the ceiling and from the wall; most of the adjustment is done in Watchout.’
By utilising a range of projectors and computer programming, DJW has been able to overcome the tough physical design of the building to create an A/V environment the museum can be proud of. While celebrating Bahrain’s past and future, the Monument also acts to show off what can be achieved with a good use of technology.