GCRS recently completed a project for the Museum of the Future in Dubai, an immersive institution housed inside an architectural marvel — a unique oval shaped seven-story building that is 77 meters (nearly 253 feet) tall and covers an area of 30,548 square meters (almost 330,000 square feet).
Framestore was asked to create the moment guests are transported into the future via a rocket launch from the future city of Dubai, up into space and finally docking into the spectacular space station OSS Hope. GCRS collaborated on all aspects of sound creating an immersive 360-degree soundscape.
Framestore’s Creative Director Jason Fox headed up the project alongside VFX Supervisor Jay Khan to create a fully CG city of Dubai, designing the full sequence from ground to orbit including the return sequence as well as the space capsule.
The journey to OSS Hope, designed as a space capsule, is — in reality — housed inside a huge freight elevator that transports guests to the top of the museum to start their adventure. Surrounding visitors are 10 giant 75-inch 4K screens, all providing a completely realistic perspective of the surrounding city of Dubai. The walls, floor and ceiling mirror each other, giving the architecture a sense of zero gravity.
Raja Sehgal, chief sound designer and founding partner at GCRS, was involved early on in the creation of The Journey to OSS Hope and recommended where within the space the speakers should be integrated. GCRS’s Studio 8 in London was redesigned to emulate the dimensions of the experience and create cinematic sound. Sehgal then spent time on site in Dubai interfacing the system into the live experience.
Sehgal says: “The journey up to OSS Hope had to be the most memorable as it’s the first impression a visitor will have of the Museum of the Future. This is the show-off piece and the sound is absolutely inherent with some hair-standing-on-end moments. I integrated hundreds of layers of sound design on site, so depending on where you stand in elevator, the experience is different and, most importantly, feels completely realistic. I had a lot of fun with this.”
