Creating an immersive experience at the Calem Bodega museum

The Cálem Bodega museum in the coastal district of Oporto, is giving wine a new, innovative and technological dimension. Assisted by Panasonic and Ésistemas, this winery has established the first-ever interactive museum in the region. Visitors can enjoy an innovative, immersive experience, allowing them to explore the Porto wine-producing process in detail. The museum offers a journey through the technology, starting with the vinesand ending in the cellar.

The Cálem Bodega is located close to the Luis I bridge, a favoured position which has helped transform it into one of the most popular wine cellars (bodegas) in Vila Nova de Gaia. The company's logo shows a caravel, symbol of the trans-Atlantic trade which formed the bodega's primary business during its early years in the 19th century.

For the work of transforming the hall and converting it to an interactive museum, Cálem needed a technology partner to help it create the desired environmentand raise the bodega's visitor experience to a new level. Ésistemas accepted the challenge and decided to use Panasonic visual equipment for the hall. Outstanding above other display solutions is the videomapping projection system for images and videos of interest to the visitor.

The museum also has a 4D room which recreates the wine-making process in its entirety, providing details of its history using all five senses. The installation uses sound and smell in combination with the projected images.

The route through the room offers an unforgettable visual experience, using exceptional technology that is astonishing and thought-provoking in equal measure. The sounds and images are perfectly combined to produce a set of optical effects using various dimensions, movements, objects and colours.

“This is a new space which showcases the technology's potential to create an unforgettable cultural experience, explainsVasco Santos, CMO of Ésistemas. We have revolutionised the way in which the history of the bodega can be understood, arousing great interest among local people and tourists, with many more visitorssince the installation was created.”

Oriol Massagué, Field Marketing Manager for Panasonic System Communications Company Europe, says: “The resources of the Panasonic equipment used were designed for environments such as the Cálem Bodega, where the aim is to astonish the visitor and install reliable, good quality equipment that is tolerant of varying temperature conditions and light levels”.

“When managing the production stage of the interactive museum, the most important aspect was to perform a complete analysis of the chosen room, so that the audiovisual equipment could be wall-mounted andfully integrated into the environment,” explains the project's technical coordinator, Francisco Moura, from Gema Digital.

The full system consists of equipment from six Panasonic models. 10 PT-RZ970 laser projectors, which are outstanding for their durability,allow the museum to remain open all day long. There are also PT- RZ670 and PT-RZ470 projectors, both chosen from a compact range which produces surprisingly bright images. They deliver a powerful visual effect.

“This is a new space which showcases the technology's potential to create an unforgettable cultural experience."

In regards to screens, a TH-98LQ70 displayhas the robustness needed for the cellar environmenttowithstand impact while minimising problems. Whileone TH-65EF1 display and two TH-55LFE8 are stylish LED displays, providing the most intuitive connectivity and usability needed to support the installation of the immersive museum experience.

The videowall consists of four TH-55LFV displays, forming a giant, frameless screen with extremely fine settings and deliver the expansive effect needed for the visual sensation. Colour, brightness and other display settings allow the images to be customised to provide the effects best suited to the environment.