Green display tech for Living Building
The Tūhoe people of New Zealand have made a bold statement with their new community centre. The new HQ, Te Uru Taumatua, is New Zealand’s first Living Building — an international sustainable building certification program that promotes the most advanced measurement of a building’s sustainability.
But being ‘green’ doesn’t preclude you from making a splash. An exciting first impression is created by the use of display technology provided by Planar Systems, an advanced video wall that greets all who enter through the main lobby. In the words of the building’s designers and Tūhoe leaders, this technology speaks a thousand words about an ancient tribe that is determined to be seen as modern, growing and prosperous.
International award-winning, interactive media company Click Suite, based in Wellington, helped bring the Tūhoe tribe’s dream of a central cultural community centre to fruition. Click Suite commissioned and installed the Planar Mosaic video wall in the building’s main lobby as a focal centrepiece. They also made some adjustments to make it 100% compliant with the very strict standards that a Living Building needs to meet.
Planar Mosaic brought with it several sustainability features. First among these is its off-board power supply. The off-board power supply allows the video wall to run quieter and cooler and avoids the need to invest in incremental cooling for the lobby space. In turn, by running cooler, the video wall lasts longer than many other video walls – up to 50,000 hours – and requires less maintenance. Also, power for each Planar Mosaic display comes via a single daisy-chained cable from the remote rack room, simplifying cabling and eliminating the cost to install a power outlet behind every display.
Planar Mosaic’s selection for the Te Uru Taumatua building also came as a result of its unique combination of display shapes and sizes and the manner in which these displays can be installed. The building makes use of all three available Planar Mosaic display tiles and while the arrangement might appear random, it’s a carefully planned juxtaposition and overlapping of the differing shapes. “It creates almost a 3D effect, which really captures the viewer’s attention and interest,” says Emily Loughnan, director of Click Suite. “Also, content assigned to a tile of one size and shape can flow across the negative space to a tile of another size and shape and scaled to fit that tile as well. We’re not used to video wall content being displayed in this manner, so it creates the impression of technological innovation that the Tūhoe people desire for themselves.”
IDT (Planar): 1300 666 099 or www.idt.com.au
Click Suite: www.clicksuite.co.nz