Leading Italian lighting manufacturer iGuzzini, has revamped its headquarters in Recanati, in the Italian region of Marche, to include a multifunctional space boasting a Christie Mirage projector for 3D screening capabilities as well as a Christie DWU670-E projector.

iGuzzini manufactures lighting fixtures for architecture and street lighting. The family business, which was established more than 50 years ago, has a sales network reaching 64 countries. Its products are celebrated for their innovation, design and eco-sustainability. Continuing in this vein, the company decided to upgrade its offices.

The 150,000sqm headquarters office has a new four-storey Light Laboratory, designed by Genoa architect Maurizio Varratta under the banner of sustainability and energy efficiency. The building’s ecological performance received a rating of 3.5 on the Sustainable Building Challenge Protocol, the highest received to date by an office building in Italy.

As well as an R&D department, offices and showroom facilities, the building also hosts a high-tech conference room with an impressive array of AV technology, installed by system integrator Videoworks. The acoustic design was by Munich’s Müller BBM and the objective for the room was to achieve a multifunctional space that could be re-arranged according to needs.

The conference room, which is 24m long and 10m wide, can accommodate 300 people in the stylish ‘Poltrona Frau’ seating. Alternatively, the conference room can be divided into two spaces – thanks to a mobile acoustic wall made from sound absorbent timber acoustic panels mounted on a metal frame. The two smaller rooms would measure approximately 12m by 10m, each holding around 130 attendees.

Installed in this conference room is a cutting edge Christie Mirage WU12K-M.  With dual image processing capabilities, there are three modes of 3D input – native 3D input, frame doubled 3D and Dual Input 3D for maximum source compatibility and high-performance flicker-free operation without the need for a passive to active converter. The Christie Mirage WU12K-M was the projector of choice to deliver more pixels, and more performance for visually stunning 3D.

Videoworks system engineer Carlo Bellocchio followed the project from its inception through design and on-site work management to co-operation with the company’s help desk for any after-sales matters. He states: “The brief we got from the client was fundamentally two-fold – the room had to be a multifunctional multimedia facility suitable for small scale events such as in-house courses, and for large conferences with attendees from abroad.

“We also had to ensure that participants felt they were actually part of the presentations or events staged, and the high-end technology produced the utmost impact.”

The challenge they had was the positioning of the projectors and the screens so that, when divided into two independent rooms for smaller events the projectors and screen would match up.

In order to give scope for the conference room to be divided into two, there was also a considerable reduction in the space available for the main projector and it needed to have the lens flexibility to provide a sharp clear image even if the projection screen is moved to allow for a different room setting.

“The company also wanted to be able to use 3D footage – which attendees could watch with customised iGuzzini glasses. The solution was found in a Christie Mirage WU12K-M 3 Chip DLP® projector. Not only is the projector suitable for 3D projection, it can also be fitted with a 1.1:1 lens with the possibility of having various lens shift positions that could be remotely recalled,” explained Bellocchio. Christie Mirage has cinema quality with active 3D, featuring 10,500 ANSI lumens, WUXGA resolution and up to 10,000:1 contrast.

“This means that, according to the event being held in the rooms, the image can be positioned at the necessary screen level,” says Bellocchio.

To comply with the requests of its client, Videoworks also specified a Crestron modular DigitalMedia switcher, which can handle a multitude of signals in various formats over various distances with a single integrated system, including the distribution and extension of the signals on fibre and STP cables. Signals are HDMI, VGA for PC connections, high definition HDMI signals from the video sources, HDSDI signals from the cameras and standard definition analogue signals for the AUX connections.

The room’s second projector is a Christie DWU670-E digital projector. This projector offers 6,000 ANSI lumens with a native WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolution and interchangeable powered 2.0-4.0:1 zoom lens. The Christie DWU670-E is a 1-chip DLP projector, part of the Christie E Series, which offers exceptional brightness and image quality in a compact chassis. This flexible platform operates in single or dual-lamp modes, and can produce higher lumen levels in a single-lamp than other dual-lamp projectors.

The main projection screen is a Da-Lite Cinema Contour fixed frame screen with a custom 600 x 375cm high-gain projection surface; the smaller (332 x 187cm) model is a tensioned Comm-Tec Electric Master screen with Da-Lite projection surface. The 3D projector is mounted at the end of the room with the other halfway down, right after the partition wall.

The room’s video setup is completed by a quartet of 0.3in HD integrated motorised cameras, controlled by a remote camera controller; videoconferencing requirements are catered for by a Cisco 1080p HD codec with dual display. Video sources are a custom 3D playout workstation complete with dual output card stereoscopic player software, a Gefen high definition personal video recorder and a Full HD 3D Blu-ray/DVD player. As far as audio is concerned, two Duran Audio Axys Intellivox DS-180-2 beam shaping arrays are wall mounted behind the speakers’ table with two DS-115-2 arrays on the wall midway down the hall.

The same goes for the floor-mounted Tannoy VS 10BP compact band pass subwoofers, which are hidden behind the room’s wall panels, which have acoustic vents. When the room is divided, an appropriate configuration preset is called up on the Biamp AudiaFlex digital audio platform, which, as well as routing facilities, also features mixer functions, EQ, filters, crossover, dynamics, delays and more.

As a company with sales across the globe, iGuzzini doesn’t expect its visitors to always speak Italian. The conference room has been fitted with a Sennheiser digital interpretation system, with three five-channel FM modulators and a pair of high-power radiators, features an SDC 8200 ID interpreter unit in each of the two booths overlooking the conference room. Control is courtesy of a Crestron dual-bus control system and an Apple iPad WiFi LCD with custom GUI and a wireless access point plus two Ethernet switches (all Cisco).

Bellocchio concludes: “Compared with previous systems we have designed and installed, the aspect that distinguishes the iGuzzini project is the great flexibility. The conference room can be used as a single venue or two smaller ones. A large number of high-definition sources can be freely allocated exactly where they are required. Then there is also the fact that the eight languages of the simultaneous translation system can be split as required between the two rooms, enabling two events requiring translation to be held simultaneously. Having 3D capabilities in its conference room sets iGuzzini aside from the crowd, this is a unique application.”