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Urban Visuals

Archive for Current Projects

Installations at Illuminate Yaletown

We were asked to create several installations for this debut lighting festival in Yaletown.Our first installation, named “An Instant in Colour” allows spectators to change the colour of the building by placing objects in a marked area nearby. Objects at that spot are captured and translated into moments in colour that move and flow across the building facade blending and mixing with previously captured moments. By reacting to the colours at the spot and the moments captured by it, the building facade enables the viewer to express him or herself by way of light, amplifying and sharing it for all to see. This installation has been developed from Urban Visual Interaction Lab’s exploration into lighting systems that express the mood of buildings, with the goal of expanding the relationship between buildings and their environment. Above and below; the installation translates the colours at the foot of the building to the entire facade above The second installation titled ” space crawlers ” was the collision of media and the conventional forms of a turn of the century (1900’s) building facade. Some images of the installation are below, due to the incredibly tight performance times of illuminate yaletown, the set up of the projections onto the building had to become part of the performance itself. (photo credit: flickr) Above is another photo taken by a person interacting with the set-up grid, often the most simple presentation can create the best interaction.  Konstantinos Mavromichalis received his BFA in Visual Arts and Philosophy from the University of Victoria and works primarily in environmental design. Nathan Whitford brings many years of creative talent and lighting expertise to these installations. (photo credits: flickr)

Enhanced presentation using UV Colourmatch

For a recent project for the Puerto Cancun development in Mexico we designed a lighting system that illuminates the interior of an exhibit theatre space according to colours in the video presentation.


Two switches on the wall allow a sales person to choose between playing back English and Spanish versions of the presentation, which when pressed, dim the architectural lighting and begin the show.

Six channels of full colour LED lights follow along with the video, washing the front wall of the theatre with rich light.

Relic Entertainment Lobby Installation

Responsive Video Projection with a Media Server

A media server allows for synchronized, programmed playback to video projectors. Video and still image content is uploaded to the server and can be programmed to play back at designated times and with varying frequency.  Content can be uploaded over the LAN with a web browser or via the ftp protocol or can be copied from a CD or DVD locally at the device.

By utilizing a media server with multiple video projectors, it is possible to synchronize playback between the projectors. While one projector is playing video content of a particular product, another projector can be displaying relevant background information or simply the company logo. When the first projector finishes playing the clip, it can start playing on the second projector. Also if projectors are placed close enough together it is possible to create very wide screen animations with imagery spanning across multiple projectors.

The projectors will be mounted on the ceiling and fitted with short throw lenses to create a large projection for the limited projection distance to the floor (approximately 9’6”). The projected image size will be 94 inches high by 125 inches wide, which will nearly completely fill the height of the carpeted area. The two projectors will be mounted so the projected images butt up together creating an image area nearly 21 feet long.

Light embedded bar top

animated bar-top

Glowing animated bar-top

For the Shine Nightclub redesign we created an animated bar top that appears to be filled with flickering candles. This application was especially challenging as we had to control 200 lights able to display 16 million different colours in an infinite amount of patterns. In its completed form the glowing wood bar-top can display a multitude of different animations that give it an surreal appearance that is hard to describe so please watch the clip.

light_embedded_bar_clip

LED_bartop_03 LED_bartop_02 LED_barface-01