Biowall: a public audiovisual space for the enjoyment and relaxation of the whole community

The biotechnology company United Therapeutics, specialized in medicines for patients with chronic diseases, has created an audiovisual space as a meeting and relaxation point that can be freely accessed, starring a large format screen of Planar, named Biowall, in which images of nature and science are shown.

Biowall is an outdoor public audiovisual space located in Silver Spring, in the U.S. state of Maryland, that the company United Therapeutics has wanted to donate to the community in which its headquarters are located. The aim of this generous initiative has not been, as usual, promote the brand of this company through images, corporate videos and messages, but "offer a gift of nature, art and science to the whole community", says Avi Halpert, vice president of this company.

When its managers made the decision to create this unique visual space, relaxing and quiet, when expanding its headquarters one of the requirements to install the video screen was that it had to be housed inside the United Therapeutics building., but at the same time it could be viewed outside and outside of free access. The design of the system was to take the form of a corridor, with enough space for employees and visitors to travel smoothly while enjoying the images.

With these premises, those responsible for this company requested the help of the specialist Avitecture to shape your Biowall, that selected the technology of planar as the most appropriate for this project, since its Matrix system offers optimal resolution and brightness for this space, in which the strong ambient light is constant.

This is how Bill Apter explains it, senior consultant of special projects at Avitecture: "We examined other screens on the market, but since we saw in InfoComm the Full HD Matrix videowall of Planar we knew that it was the best solution for this unique space. Its technology has allowed us to configure a great work of visual art that shows in a very beautiful way, serene and even inspiring our world in all its forms".

Planar Technology

Avitecture has been responsible for the design, supply and installation of Biowall, composed of sixteen Clarity Matrix MX46HD panels from the firm Planar, in configuration 4×4 with 5,5 Mm. bezel width, which offers a brightness of 800 Nits, with a contrast ratio of 3,500:1 and backlight control.

With a 24 operation×7, the screen has been mounted on a custom-built frame that is suspended on two beams attached to the ceiling, so that Biowall can be moved back and forth through a trolley to allow access to the screen without obstructing the outer glass aisle and prevent overheating, thanks to the Planar EasyAxis mounting system, allowing technicians to easily access wiring.

The entire electronic system is housed in a rack room, located on a lower floor and separated from the screen. Biowall, which opened on Earth Day, works uninterrupted to display more than twenty hours of unique content that is frequently updated, and that in some cases approaches cinematographic quality thanks to the contribution of videos and images of AV professionals and amateurs from all over the world.

As Randy Scope points out, Chief Content Officer, United Therapeutics, "since we are using high quality video, the screen had to show it optically and spectacularly. At first we decided to use an advanced content management system that exceeded what we really needed and now we have a Max connected to the unit that manages the videos through a playlist in iTunes, which is quite simple and meets our requirements".

Often, in this relaxing and visual public atrium you can see people resting and observing the spectacular images of the screen, with an ever-changing selection of nature videos, science and art from all over the world.

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