Bright! bank on brightness

A 2015 Panasonic whitepaper on projection mapping, created as a result of an industry survey, showed that the market for mapping is experiencing accelerated growth.

A quarter of those surveyed had experienced growth in their projection mapping revenues of more than 50%, with almost half of those saying that their revenues had grown by more than 100%. It is clear that projection mapping is becoming a preferred option over traditional approaches such as fireworks.

Taking place biannually since 2000, the Luminale Festival lights up showrooms, galleries, museums, churches, stations and many other buildings across Frankfurt with up to 200 different lighting events. Originally a smaller event held as part of the Light+Building lighting industry trade fair in the city, it has become a popular standalone date in its own right.

For 2016, Frankfurt-based event lighting specialist bright! used the 20,000 lumen Panasonic PT-DZ21K to help create an award-winning 3D mapping show taking place as part of the Festival. The company creates video motion graphics, projection mapping sequences as well as light and stage design.

The graphical visual installation was projected onto two different high rise buildings home to the European Central Bank – the façade of the Eurotower, as well as the bank’s main building just a short distance away.

The mapping was designed as a visual interpretation of the European anthem, which is a section of the prelude to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, “Ode to Joy”, and was titled 'United in Diversity'.

28 PT-DZ21K projectors created an image of more than 3,000 square metres, with confidence in the reliability of the mapping show secured by the DZ21K’s quad-lamp system, which allows the projector to keep working and provide an image even if a lamp should fail.

A separate relay mode, meanwhile, can operate lamps in an alternate fashion to enable 24/7 projection and give the stable, extended operation required for light shows and mapping applications, which are proving increasingly popular.

Like many other Panasonic projectors it also boasts flexible installation and geometric adjustment, enabling projection on a wide range of spherical, cylindrical and other specially shaped surfaces making 3D mapping a relatively simple proposition.

Thomas Giegerich, Managing Director at Bright! said “We’re proud to win a Red Dot Design award with our design work on this project. The Red Dot award is very prestigious and we’re glad to have received the recognition.”

The Red Dot Design Award is an internationally sought after quality mark for good design since it was established in 1955. Over the years it has documented worldwide design trends, with winning designs exhibited in Red Dot Design Museums.

Split into three competitions, for Product Design, Communication Design and Design Concept, the Award gives distinction and visibility to design success.

“The graphical design was based on the European Union’s anthem," continues Thomas Giegerich. "We combined it with data about the Union’s diverse population to create the sequences, which was supported by an illumination in the blue of the European flag.”

“It was a very high profile projection show and it was vital everything went smoothly, so to have the built-in redundancy in the projectors gave us peace of mind and overall was a strong deciding factor.”

Harmut Kulessa, European Projector Marketing Manager at Panasonic, said, "The Luminale show is yet another example of our projection technology expertise, and one in a long line of visual mapping shows that have been pulled off around the world."

"The sector is growing quickly as organisers realise there is an immense amount of customisation and flexibility that can be had, and we're please that bright! was able to realise success with a Red Dot award using our technology."