George W. Bush Presidential Museum and Library features high resolution 360° LED display
22 September 2013
Located on the edge of the Southern Methodist University campus in University Park, College Station, Texas, the new 226,565-square-foot, $250 million Bush Center is home to the United States 13th Presidential Library and Museum. The institution commemorates the Bush Administration, offering in-depth access to Presidential materials including thousands of artifacts and millions of electronic records.
The experience begins as visitors enter the library’s architectural centerpiece, Freedom Hall. What appears to be a seamless 360° giant painted mural suddenly comes to life, revealing ultra-high resolution time lapse views of Texas. Then an animated tableau of American life featuring one hundred characters appears. A fantastic Washington DC flyover and a surprising finale end the presentation. The visuals and original orchestral soundtrack surround the audience. The experience celebrates the diversity of the land, its people and the connected nature of all Americans.
Solving unique challenges for breathtaking results
Running every 15 minutes as a curtain-raiser to the museum and library tours, the seven-minute show entitled “We the People” presents a theatrical tribute to Americana, its people and its institutions of democracy.
“Everyone in this business said it couldn’t be done,” commented designer David Niles. “So, I went to Barco with my list of requirements: to create an LED product capable of presenting a photorealistic display of seamless imagery wrapping the interior of the room, 20feet (6m) off the ground, with viewers standing directly underneath (making for some extreme viewing angles), presented in broad daylight with no distortion.”
Massive technical prowess
The composited 48.7m x 6.5m high-resolution display wall is a high-performance version of Barco LiveDots’ C5 LED display, comprising four individual surfaces, each 40 tiles wide and 16 tiles high, or 6.5m x 16m in area. The tiles are seamlessly joined at each interior wall corner to form a giant video screen enveloping visitors overhead as they enter the foyer.
The 5.5mm-pitch C5 LED was chosen its ability to display consistent imagery even at extreme viewing angles, a necessity for this project because of its interior-facing rectangular screens. Despite the high ambient light environment due to light streaming from four adjacent windows, the display presents extremely rich, colorful imagery because of its high brightness and excellent contrast. Running at 110 gigabytes per minute, the video presentation requires multiple computer servers.
Photo courtesy David Niles, Niles Creative Group
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