Projected Image Digital (PID) has supplied the first Element Labs’ VersaPixel installation in the UK, featuring over 3,000 point-sources of light, at the newly opened Grosvenor Casino in Manchester.
The PID team worked closely with Cadmium Design’s Paula Reason and Tina Chetnik, who specified the VersaPixels. Reason is well known for designing light features into her architectural and interior schemes. She likes spaces to become live, interactive sources of energy, as well as making a definite statement about the environment. Reason recently incorporated other Element Labs products into high profile installations at the Hard Rock Café restaurants in London and Barcelona as well as in casinos in Leicester and London.
VersaPixel’s distributed architecture gives designers complete freedom over pixel shape and placement, including intricate 3-D arrangements, so it was ideal for the spherical ceiling above the bar area.
PID coordinated the installation process with Leisure Installation Services (LIS). The VersaPixel cables and driver boards were installed first, followed by the ceiling, after which the bar was constructed underneath, an operation needing tight coordination. Once the bar was in place, PID commissioned and programmed up the system. Two Element Labs C1 controllers drive the system, and DMX is triggered by the overall Crestron BMS that controls all things electrical throughout the entire building.
For content, PID collaborated with Reason and Kevin Price, who was hired by Grosvenor to produce content running across all the plasmas and various video surfaces. He came up with a storyboard requiring a selection of clips exuding a range of states, from high energy to organic and soothing.