Wanting to completely renovate the AV and exhibit hall experience inside its Aquarium Pyramid, Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX needed a dynamic, new display for the lobby, so it called on 1220 Exhibits for the installation.
“We won the bid to oversee the complete AV installation for the renovation of the Aquarium Pyramid where the original design for the lobby called for a 25K projector system,” said Dan Chadwick, director of interactive services, 1220 Exhibits. “Once we ran the numbers, we were able to show how using an LED video system would be a better long-term solution while giving them a much more compelling digital display for the lobby experience.”
The exhibit houses at Moody Gardens are built in a pyramid-style, with the outer façade made of glass, creating the challenge of an uncontrollable amount of natural light that would bleed into the space. “They would need to install a fairly large projector to counteract the natural light, and even at its maximum capacity, a projection system would not provide the image quality that we could achieve with a high-definition PixelFLEX FLEXLite NXG 3.9mm LED wall,” Chadwick said.
“One of our primary goals with this renovation was to create a dynamic, immersive experience for guests the moment they stepped foot in the Aquarium Pyramid,” said John Zendt, president/CEO Moody Gardens. “The clarity and crispness of the image on the PixelFLEX video wall helps us achieve this.”
As the system installation got underway, the LED video panels were mounted high on a curved wall, greeting guests as they arrive. The design features of the FLEXLite NXG system added an additional benefit to the project, allowing it to install quickly and easily.
“The completed video wall measures 20 feet wide by 10 feet high,” Chadwick said. “To connect the panels to the curved mounting wall, we first removed the drywall and fastened 3/4in. plywood to the metal substructure underneath. We then bolted the panels directly to the plywood with about a five-degree curve. We ended up using 72 total FLEXLite NXG panels and it went pretty smooth as we completed the full LED video system installation in only three days.”
The digital display has become both an informational and an excitement generating element in the renovated Aquarium Pyramid.
“The content for the lobby display is being driven by a custom-built Watch-Out computer with a full HD signal being sent through a PixelFLEX sending unit,” Chadwick said. “The video shows a short intro movie to the new Aquarium Pyramid, then it switches over to the daily schedule for the events taking place throughout the exhibit. The video plays in a loop as part of the completely renovated lobby experience, and it’s doing a great job of getting visitors excited from the moment they walk in the door.”
PRODUCT AT WORK
PixelFLEX FLEXLite NXG
FLEXLite NXG is available in both full front and rear serviceable models, allowing for simple on-site repairs when needed without the hassle of removing the entire tile.
