Destination projection at Bergen Airport

National Geographic once said that it was, ‘impossible not to be hypnotised by the beauty of Norway's west coast'.

Such acclaim meant a new, modern, well-oiled Airport was needed to cater for up to 10 million passengers every year.

Built at a cost of 3.7 billion NOK, Bergen Airport was opened in August 2017 by Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who said at the time:

"Flesland plays a vital role in tourism and industry in the region. Now that the airport has doubled its capacity, we have a large international airport that Western Norway can be proud of.”

It was the hypnotic beauty of the region that inspired Avinor to create two displays in the new terminal building, that act as a piece of art to inspire new visitors and comfort those leaving the Airport.

Aina Tysse, Commercial Director at Avinor, “Nature is the main attraction on the West coast of Norway, Bergen is the gateway to the Fjords. I was tasked with representing our local nature within the airport.

“I thought the best way to bring it to life was to show it on a big screen and show it on film.

Featuring 10 high brightnesslaser projectors (PT-RZ31K) from Panasonic, there are two separate projection arrays.

The first is in the check-in area on the southern side wall. Using seven projectors to deliver a total of 217,000 lumens and 14 million pixels of resolution, it creates an image 53.5metres long and between 4.5 metres and 7 metres high.

There is a second smaller installation on a wall airside. This is a projection of around 20 metres wide and between 3.5 metres and 5.5 metres high. Here, three projectors provide 93,000 lumens brightness.

“We wanted to celebrate our region and its unique character, so that people would immediately identify with the content, and know where they were landing or where they were leaving. The terminal itself could be anywhere, but adding this design element, definitely lets you know you are in Norway and specifically the west coast,” said Aina Tysse.

The project was awarded to Stagelab via public tender, with Stagelab subcontracting the installation to Bright Norway.

Torgeir Kaarvann Dahl, Project Manager at Bright, “There aren't too many manufacturers that could produce that level of picture quality, at least not as laser projectors. We ran a shootout involving two manufacturers and it was down to the airport to choose the technology.

“We had a challenge with hanging the projectors. We needed projectors that were quiet in operation and sufficiently compact so that they could be positioned unobtrusively, so that the quiet aesthetic of the terminal wasn't broken.”

Tony Grass, Project Sales Partner atPanasonic Norway, said, "Panasonic projectors are renowned for their compact size and reliability, so were the obvious choice for such a high profile project."

Creative freedom
There is no commercial element within the content, with Avinor choosing for an artistic statement projection instead. The content was produced by Innovation Norway, shot largely on drones and featuring fjords, mountains and typical regional villages and traditions.

“Being part of an overall construction project allowed us to have greater creative freedom than you would normally have,” said Aina Tysse.

“We wanted to do it with a high quality and Panasonic was able to demonstrate this right from the start of the project. I knew immediately that the projectors had the quality that I was looking for. We were looking for a way of being able to dynamically present the content, but also have flexibility to update it regularly.

“I am the protector of this area. I've been offered huge sums of money to sell it to commercial partners, but I won't let that happen as long as I'm here.”

Technical solution
Light sensors automatically adjust the brightness of the projectors, so that the output is lowered during the evening. Automatic calibration is in place to ensure the projection looks great at all times, while the control systems are a mix of AV Stumpfl Avio and Crestron. The technical room, positioned two floors down, is linked to the projectors using fibre optics.

Great travel companion
Feedback from travellers has been overwhelmingly positive, especially among nervous flyers. Aina Tysse said, “Passengers really appreciate it, and it gives them a sense of anticipation when they arrive. Also, before they get on the plane, people find it calming, steadying the nerves of people before they get on the plane.”

“If you look at any airport, you would almost certainly see a lot of LED screens, or maybe some projectors serving advertising content. So having content that is strictly non-commercial is admirable and certainly gives a great level of personal satisfaction,” adds Torgeir Kaarvann Dahl.

Predictive Maintenance
“We have a service agreement with Avinor, part of that is preventative maintenance, running updates and changing filters as needed. For any bigger faults we have a response time agreed of just a few hours,” says Torgeir Kaarvann Dahl. “The only way we can achieve this is having Panasonic Cares. Every piece of equipment is attached to the network, the data, such as operating hours, fan speed and filter life, is being fed through securely to the cloud and being monitored by the Panasonic European Service Centre in Cardiff.

“We are then given an early warning of any potential issues so that we can ensure that we react to these quickly to ensure that we are proactively maintaining rather than waiting until there is a more serious problem that could impact the installation.

“While it's not a control room or a critical installation, it is certainly high profile. What's more, it is operating 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, so we needed projectors that we can rely on to make sure we didn't let the client down.”