The Pacific Aquarium offers 'cinema content' with Christie's RGB laser technology

A pure laser RGB projector has been installed in the Honda Pacific Visions Theater auditorium to display a wide range of content, such as films compatible with DCI standards and material developed in the aquarium itself.

The auditorium Honda Pacific Visions Theater, centerpiece of the enlargement undertaken in 2019 by the Pacific Aquarium (Aquarium of the Pacific) has recently been equipped with a projector Christie Pure laser RGB.

With the new CP4330-RGB, the aquarium can display a wide range of contents including films compatible with DCI standards and material developed in the aquarium itself.

Located in Long Beach (California), is the largest aquarium in Southern California and the fourth largest aquarium in the United States. It is a non-profit facility, that welcomes 12.000 animals and more than a hundred exhibition spaces that pay homage to the inhabitants and ecosystems of the Pacific Ocean.

in 2019, Pacific Visions opened (see more information about this project at Digital AV), an extension of almost 9.000 square meters and two floors, which houses an art gallery, a first room to guide the viewer, another ending that completes the visit with deeper information and the Honda Pacific Visions Theater auditorium.

With a capacity of 300 Seats, the auditorium is equipped with an immersive screen with an arc curvature of 180o, dimensions and dimensions of 40 meters wide by 10 high. A sloping disc of 9,1 meters in diameter rises from the ground to expand the projection surface.

"The goal of that design," explains Fahria Qader, Director of Pacific Visions and Architecture at the Aquarium- was to create a unique platform, with high-resolution images and effects to deal with film content the most pressing environmental issues of our time. To complete the uses of the auditorium we wanted to also project cinematic content, something we had done before in a smaller room.

Early in 2020, the Aquarium contacted Associates in Media Engineering (Love) with the aim of commissioning them to design and search for the best audiovisual solution for the auditorium.

Taking advantage of the immersive display

The aquarium specified the requirements for the new projection system: optimal use of the immersive display, implementing a projector sound reduction system and ensuring that it remained hidden when not in use.

"In recent years we have seen, in very diverse facilities, a growing interest in integrating film content into spaces that were not originally intended for the film exhibition; I'm talking about auditoriums of many kinds, in museums, presentation rooms, Theatres, etc., explains Benjamin Kidwell Lein, AME's top executive.

For the aquarium, AME opted for a pure Christie CP4330-RGB cinema projector. With CineLife electronics and Real lighting system|Laser, it's a compact all-in-one projector 28.000 lumens of power, compatible with DCI standards, optimal image quality and long operating life, but with a reduced cost of ownership.

After checking the impossibility of placing the projector inside a cab, AME chose to integrate it into the public, which wasn't easy.

"That circumstance forced us to cover the projector in some way, to dampen operating noise. We recommend a silent enclosure, manufactured by outdoor enclosure company Tempest. It soon became clear that this kind of assembly would not harmonize with the clean line design of the auditorium. then, it occurred to us that the projector and its enclosure could be suspended from the ceiling when it was deprecated, and return to its projection position with the help of an articulated elevator", Lein clarifies.

"4D effects that together with the vibration of the seats and the pronounced inclination of the stand reinforce the immersive effect of the projection", explains Qader. "We look forward to the public premiere of the new projection system. Having a system like this will allow us to, in addition to showing films created specifically for our auditorium, project other types of films".

Other articles on Pacific Aquarium, Associates in Media Engineering - Love, Christie