Project Name: Airbus Group Inc.
Location: Washington DC
Challenge
Airbus Group Inc. was looking to craft a unique and engaging experience center for their clients. This was to be accomplished by cutting edge deployments of technology to demonstrate the Airbus Group Inc. story throughout every part of the facility.
Solution
Avidex was tasked with taking a multitude of conceptual ideas throughout the facility and making them a reality. This ranged from a simple conference room with local presentation, a divisible conference room, digital signage, interactive systems, complex video walls, and experience elements in the ceiling. These unique solutions needed to be visually interesting, yet easy for the local team to maintain and operate.
For guests, the experience with the facility begins with simple digital signage by the front desk location with a single display. The next locations were the most challenging systems to coordinate as they are display systems housed in the ceiling. Special considerations for cooling and supporting the glass on large flat panel displays needed to be accounted for with the deployment. Avidex partnered with NEC to ensure those requirements were met. Custom enclosures were fabricated for the display systems as well, with the first deployment being the Oculus in the entrance to the facility. The Oculus is an array of six 55’’ flat panel displays grouped together in a 2x3 formation, with a round custom enclosure to give the experience of looking at a moving globe. The content is driven by a matrix of BrightSign players that are all synced to allow for one continuous image. The second system that followed this methodology is the Sky Walk, which has five separate groupings of two 84’’ displays shrouded by custom enclosures in the ceiling.
Not only was Avidex presented with the challenge of putting large format displays in the ceiling, but it was also important to find a matte glass to contend with the tremendous amount of ambient light in the Sky Walk corridor. The content for these systems are also supported by a matrix of BrightSign players that allow for the content to span across all of the displays, with parts of the content traversing all of the displays in one fluid video loop.
Two projection-based video wall solutions also act as unique presentation points throughout the Airbus Group Inc. experience center. The first location is the Briefing Room, which consists of a 2x4 array of laser projectors housed in an enclosure in the ceiling shining onto a large curved projection surface. The second space consists of a 1x6 array of laser projectors that leverage a custom software mapping the content to a wall made out of several shapes. Both systems are driven by a processor and have a touch panel interface integrated into a table. The audio system in the Fleet Wall is surround sound to allow for the perception of movement as the content crosses the projection surfaces.
The Innovation Gallery is the next experience after the Fleet Wall for visitors and allows for the Airbus Group Inc. history and example simulators to be displayed on several flat panels housed in custom enclosures. Each location has unique content, and guests can even engage in the sample simulator content. Once through the Innovation Center, Airbus Group Inc. can host meetings in a divisible conference room referred to as the Collaboration Center. This space is equipped with a single laser projector, an electric ceiling recessed screen, audio systems consisting of speakers and wireless microphones, and laptop connections for each room. This allows for two individual spaces or one large space as needed with media connections at the back of the room for premier events to be captured. One location that is leveraged exclusively by the Airbus Group Inc. team is the Live Lab. This space allows for local presentation and web based collaboration by using one flat panel display with white boarding capability and web based collaboration software on an owner furnished PC. In all of the conferencing spaces there is an option for wireless connectivity through the Barco ClickShare system or a hard line connection coupled with a control system to allow for ease of use. It was important to Airbus Group Inc. that all of the systems were still easy to care for and monitor, regardless of their complexity. To support this goal, Avidex approached the systems with the idea of deploying standards wherever possible to allow for continued care throughout the facility with the ease of hot swaps and training. Also, a VPN and simple cameras were implemented to allow for remote evaluation, troubleshooting and management of systems. All equipment is housed in an IDF and there is a central control system that allows for Airbus Group Inc. to manage all systems from a master controller with an iPad as the interface.
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