A large outdoor VuePix Infiled screen has been installed in Springvale, Melbourne as part of the unique Community Hub project.
AECOM, the AV consultant to the City of Greater Dandenong, issued a tender for a large outdoor screen, to be located on the northern façade of their council building, hosting a large library, multiple civic spaces and council offices. ENGIE AV Technologies won the bid and worked closely with Thomas Dawe, Council’s in-house Media Production and Technology Coordinator, to design and successfully deliver a highly customised and unique large-scale LED screen, ensuring the new media platform meets the client’s expectations.
ENGIE AV Technologies chose VuePix Infiled ER3 panels for this project, creating a 6.5m x 3m screen of 3.9mm pixel pitch. The screen was installed on the northern façade of the building, so one of the crucial requirements was the high brightness of the LED panels. VuePix Infiled ER high-performance panels deliver superb visuals in any light condition, with a brightness of up to 5,000 nits. The slim profile lightweight yet durable cabinets have advanced IP65 protection, making them ready to withstand harsh environmental factors. Redundancy, stability and low latency were all important to the client and were factored into every decision.
Late in the game, a request was made to have the screen swivel, pivoting by 45 degrees to allow a larger viewing audience. That is where this project turned into an astonishing AV installation project with some serious physical engineering from ENGIE AV Technologies and their partners Installation Theatrical Engineering (ITE)”. The screen has been attached to a custom frame mounted to the side of the Springvale Community Hub, that cantilevers out to address the surrounding civic space. The additional weather station has been added to alert the system to automatically close the screen if inclement wind conditions are pending. As befits a cautious client, a manual override can take over if needs be.
NovaStar MCTRL R5 LED display controller is being used to handle the screen requirements.
“Our new large Urban Screen is not commercially driven, it’s wholly focused on civic and community engagement”, explains Thomas Dawe. “Its primary use is for cultural events, links to other sites, overflow from indoor live events, community messaging, advocacy, and film nights.”
Springvale’s urban screen joins a video network that includes another outdoor screen at Dandenong’s Harmony Square, which is linked to The Drum Theatre, just across the road. With the entire Urban Screen system linked via dark fibre running around the council area, the two Urban Screens can mirror each other, take feeds from council venues as overflow, and run programmes live from The Drum Theatre.
The whole system is designed to keep running constantly. Feedback from the client has been extremely positive. So much so that the concept is being seriously looked at by other councils.
“VuePix Infiled is represented by ULA Group in Australia, which is a requirement for government procurement, but also means we can go and see them here in Melbourne,” concludes Thomas. “Not only are VuePix products widely used, such as at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, they’re a hyperfine pitch, can face into the Australian north sun and drive at 5000 nits, providing a full daylight readable image.”
