Tempest, a manufacturer of outdoor projector enclosures, has helped to enable an eye-catching projection mapping installation at Kumamoto Station in Japan. At “Aso Caldera Hike” near the busy station, visitors were able to walk through the representation of a circular caldera — a large volcanic crater — and experience a show of light and imagery in a unique relaxation spot in the city. A custom Tempest Cyclone outdoor projector enclosure installed high up on a nearby building balcony protects a Barco UDX-4K32 projector with a Dynamic Projection Institute Mirror Head, enabling mapping coverage of the entire caldera. The project was carried out by S.C.ALLIANCE with technical direction from BASSDRUM.
The mapped content was designed to represent the four seasons of the Aso Caldera region within the circular 24-meter (78-foot) diameter installation, covering an area of 600 square meters (just under 6,500 square feet).
“I loved the idea to create an oasis in a busy urban environment, and the team at S.C.ALLIANCE and all partners did a fantastic job to create such a captivating project,” says Tim Burnham, Tempest’s president. “The Cyclone enclosure was a suitable choice for this application to protect the large format projector, and the innovative mirror setup from Dynamic Projection Institute was important to achieve the required coverage from a single projector. As all the technology involved can be reused, it opens up a host of additional installation possibilities for S.C.ALLIANCE to use in the future, strengthening return on investment.”
“This is the first time we’ve used our Mirror Head inside a Tempest enclosure for an outdoor projection application, and everything worked smoothly,” says Thomas Kuehne, founder and CEO, Dynamic Projection Institute. “The Tempest enclosure is very compact, and it did its job well. Our Mirror Heads also allow projections to be moved dynamically up, down, left and right to reach certain angles that are not in the projection range for statically positioned projectors. We look forward to expanding our partnership with Tempest and exploring future possibilities with outdoor mapping experiences.”
