Analog Way’s Picturall Pro media server with 8TB performance-plus hard drives is powering the award-winning Entrance Experience at the new St Louis Aquarium created by DE-ŹYN Studios.
The Entrance Experience is displayed on DE-ŹYN’s custom seamless 2.7 mm LED display building blocks, which rise from a clock face-style fish tank window to cover the hall’s barrel vault ceiling with a direction change from side to side to forward/back in DE-ŹYN’s redesign. The DE-ŹYN Studios team chose Analog Way Picturall to play back the high-resolution content of the 14,533,632-pixel canvas.
“We wanted to create a sort of ‘Fantasia’ ballet in the Grand Lobby, a series of three- to five-minute vignettes combining an original music score, sea life, water and natural elements in a very stylised way to immerse visitors in a world of enchantment from the moment they arrive,” explained John Miceli, CCO and founder of DE-ŹYN Studios.
“This was our first time working with Analog Way, and we’re very happy with the results. We’re pushing a lot of high-resolution content and never want to settle for anything less than perfection. Analog Way’s support throughout was excellent. They flew out to the site and were on top of anything we needed to customise or tweak. They were great!”
Brian Smith, southeast regional sales manager at Analog Way added: “We could drive DE-ŹYN’s custom resolution LED videowall with specific and high-resolution content using just one Picturall Pro at very high quality and with repeatability. The system also features input cards so if the space is rented out to an event they can plug in external sources and support other content.”
America’s newest aquarium is the centrepiece of a $187 million family entertainment attraction in downtown St Louis. The Aquarium and other new attractions are housed in the National Historic Landmark train shed at St. Louis Union Station Hotel, owned by LHM and its visionaries, Bob and Steve O’Loughlin. The station originally opened in 1894 as the biggest and busiest train terminal in the nation.
The Entrance Experience recently won a THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA). It was cited for crossing the threshold into entertainment design in new and unexpected ways. The Entrance Experience melds fantasy and reality by carefully blending the media art and technology of DE-ŹYN Studios. LED display technology, visual media, an original music score and a masterfully executed virtual train ride attraction, turn-keyed by DE-ŹYN, transports guests into the immersive world of the aquarium.
DE-ŹYN Studios, with offices in Orlando, New York, San Francisco and Vancouver, oversaw the vision and execution of the Entrance Experience, working directly with LHM on the creative media work and aquarium designer PGAV Destinations on the careful, undetectable integration of technology into their exquisite design.
“The immersive visuals float around the fish tank wall and up and overhead and behind and over that massive palette created by the architecture,” said Miceli. “Whales, dolphins, betta fish, sharks, jellyfish, manta rays, sardines and many other sea creatures bring their special flowing movements, synchronised to the music score, through the space providing a wow moment for guests. An Undersea Station that appears to be 3D to the naked eye, water flow and an incredible journey through the galaxy all play a part in the Entrance Experience, the central element in the room.”
