Rear-Projection Tiled Digital Media Walls

Modular video building blocks provide high-impact solutions for interior spaces
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Sponsored by Christie® for Christie MicroTiles®
Barbara A. Nadel, FAIA

A bigger color space reflects the basis of the HK Effect on the human eye. The wide color gamut produced by rear-projection tiled digital displays means viewers see a range of colors they may not have seen before on other types of digital displays. Humans respond strongly to pure, saturated colors. The subjective effect is that the purer colors in a rear-projection digital display are punchier, more vivid, and engaging for viewers in public spaces.

Replicating the Rocky Mountains, a rear-projection tiled digital media wall displays vibrant colors and crisp images at History Colorado Center, Denver.

New modular digital media walls combine DLP® rear-projection technology with LED light sources to create unique, visually compelling displays, and produce an ideal balance of high brightness and excellent contrast. With appropriate calibration, these displays are entirely suitable for high ambient light, but not direct sunlight. The acrylic screens of rear-projection tiled digital displays absorb light for ultra-high contrast, so that even with overhead lighting or indirect sunlight, there is no glare. In contrast, plasma and LCD flat screen units tend to show glare and colors can be washed out in high ambient light environments.

Content

Successful digital displays rely on compelling content that is a good match for the medium, space, and venue. Content should be planned and budgeted for to ensure the desired messages will be communicated to the target audience and viewers. Audiences can be transient, and attention spans short. Effective content will optimize design, provide value, relevance, and excitement for viewers, and synchronize business and communications opportunities in public spaces.

Original content must be high quality and high resolution. Like any design project, creative and technical personnel should be involved early, and collaborate on design of the final product.

Interactivity

Digital media allows an audience to interact with a display. Touchscreens, infrared motion detectors, and light can trigger a response and register with a computer. Interactive applications present many opportunities for using large format tiled displays in various settings. Choosing the appropriate interactive technology for the desired experience is an important planning issue.

For example, a gesture by someone standing in front of a display can be detected by a camera and result in an instant, eye-catching response on the display. Depending on the display, this format of interactive technology may be suitable for high impact experiences used in venues such as universities or museums. Interactive touchscreens are ideal for retail environments, to allow consumers to view options and filter preferences for specific products, from cosmetics to cars. Touchscreens are also suitable for wayfinding, and in commercial building lobbies, and multi-touch interactive technology is beginning to appear in corporate spaces such as boardrooms and executive briefing centers, broadcast sets, and stadiums.

Designers should consider the temperature of the screen when touched, Unlike some display technologies, rear-projection tiled digital display screens are cool to the touch. Because the tiles are installed with a minimum of two inches in the back to allow for air flow circulation, heat from the back dissipates and doesn’t warm the screen.

Other factors to consider are performance in high ambient light, screen type durability in high-traffic venues, resolution when viewed up close and far away, and flexibility of the units for future use and other applications.

 

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Originally published in Architectural Record
Originally published in September 2012

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