INNOVATION SERIES #02
In 2020, M/Y Neom entered Oceanco’s refit yard in Zwijndrecht for a major rebuild. This included a completely new superstructure, extending her length to 105 m and adding two exterior tender garages, leaving the slight problem of a windowless and featureless internal corridor between two lounges on the Main Deck.
Working with the interior designers, Reymond Langton Design and the Owner’s Representative (The A Group), we came up with some initial concept of having a videowall, stretching the full length of the corridor. This evolved into an extended videowall with a curved section at either end, to bring both spaces together – not a simple request, but it’s challenges like this we thrive on.
The videowall corridor measures over 13.5 m in total length and almost full height of 2.1 m.
Given the length of the corridor, there would be natural torsional movements which was something that needed both the skills of the yard’s naval architects and our engineering expertise to ensure the corridor would even work as a concept.
Secondly to that is panel alignment; given the panels would naturally move, ensuring they remained aligned was an important step – working with the LED panel supplier, a magnetic mounting system was devised that allowed a small amount of motion, but ensured the panels always returned to their original intended position.
Given the videowall would be viewed close up, the pixel pitch (distance between each pixel) needed to be kept as low as possible, whilst also balancing this with the need for a curved panel. After discussions with the Client, it was decided 1.5 mm pixel pitch panels were to be used.
As ultimately, the position of the videowall is a thoroughfare, it needed to be durable – we had to ensure the surface of the wall was cleanable, as people would have a naturally tendency to touch it! Glue-on-board ‘GOB’ LED panels were chosen for this purpose.
Lastly, heat build-up on a corridor of this length was going to be a serious problem. We investigated the panels, tests were performed, and heat figures collected – the original plan was to cool just the rear of the panels, but after our testing it was shown that over 60% of the heat was emitted from the front of the panels, so cooling of both the rear (technical cooling) and the front of the panels (part of the corridor cooling solution) were required.
Designing an LED videowall is only part of the challenge, ultimately, it is the content that makes or breaks a feature such as this. It was decided to commission bespoke content for the videowall. Pixera media servers were ultimately chosen which support the widely used Notch format, meaning many content creation houses can create content for the video corridor. There are several individually addressable speakers in the ceiling meaning that content with sound can draw the guest in and make it a truly immersive experience.
Richard Hein, A-Group founder and owner's representative commented on the result:
"The outcome in a short space of time was a fully engineered custom video corridor especially for H3. I knew this was never going to be easy but the result and the ability to change content was truly amazing. By the clever use of next generation technology we turned a tight space into something truly astounding."
The video corridor is an impressive feat of engineering which is hugely flexible in terms of content. After being used for several months it evolved again, it was decided by the owner to add infinity mirrored glass panels in front of the corridor to blend the technology into the design even when switched off.
The owner’s wish was to wow his guests the moment they stepped on board. With this technological solution it more then met the expectation, along with the ability to tailor video and audio content to augment the experience it will always be fresh for the next VIP.
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