Sixty Years of Porsche

60 Years of Porsche was a unique three day exhibition & event, conceptualised and created to give all visitors and guests the opportunity to travel through six decades of Porsche. The design team set out to re-create the Porsche Centre and capture Porsche’s essence as a maker of ultimate sports cars for everyday use. To accomplish this, they chose the historical Shanghai venue, 1933, a four story1930’s building that served a variety of functions during its history from having been the largest abattoir in East Asia to becoming a medicine factory.

As guests arrived, they were first introduced to Porsche’s key designed cars displayed on the ground floor. The next part of the journey directed guests onto the 2nd floor, to an interactive recreation area composed of gaming & fun activities for kids and adults. Level 3 depicted all 6 Porsche decades in a journey through time showing how the once small sports car specialist was quickly transformed into one of the most successful automobile manufacturers in the world! Last but not least, the glass-floored gallery on the top level was the ground for the unveiling of the new RS60 Porsche Boxster, followed by a sumptuous gala dinner and outstanding performances to celebrate the 60 Years of Porsche.

Working alongside creative, design and event agency, Auditoire China, Creative Technology Asia provided the state of the art technology and technical expertise to make this event a success. From lighting design, audio and video, CT handled all technical aspects of this three-day celebration.

The key element of the 2nd floor was Porsches Racing Car animation: giving speed lovers the illusion of driving a Porsche on the Shanghai Racing Circuit. The animation focused on a single 180° image, rear projected (6mWX3mH), soft edge blended, utilizing two Barco SLM R12+ projectors with Dataton Watchout as the playback system. CT chose Watchout for this application as it has the unique ability to manipulate the images sent to the projectors allowing the engineer to compensate for the curved screen. Aaron Durdin, CT Senior Media Systems Programmer, managed the installation of the Watchout system and the manipulation of the projected images on-site. The results allowed the guests to become completely immersed in the magic & excitement of the race; as if they were really there.

For the 6 Decades of Porsche area on the 3rd floor CT provided 6 Hibino 6mm Indoor LED screens, each screen measuring 2.5mW X 3mH. This was the first time that the Hibino screens were used in China. Dataton Watchout allowed synchronization of all 6 screens to create the sense of travelling through time, beginning in the year 1948 and rapidly whisking the viewer to the present.

For the final portion of the tour, in the glass floored top level of the venue, CT provided two huge front projected images, which served as the main attraction for the evening events. When entering the room, guests were truly impressed by the massive 10.5mW X 4.5mH screen, which featured video projected by Barco FLM HD18 projectors, with long throw lens and edge blended to form a single image.

IDcreations created the HD video source, whilst Dataton Watchout, provided by CT, was used for its ability to replay high-resolution images. Spyder video processing system, designed for live-show events, was provided to allow mixing a large number of sources in multiple windows & creating livefeed & VTs PIP during the show. Spyder’s flexibility, versatility & comprehensive control made the show creativity easy.

CT also provided a delay screen (8.2mWX3.5mH) made of a single image achieved with soft edge blended Barco FLM R20+ projectors created the 2nd backdrop.

60 Years of Porsche was a complex, technology driven project. Running the whole event required specialist engineers and complex Watchout and Spyder programming. The team composed of local and foreign engineers, worked together seamlessly to ensure all screens in all floors looked great without, of course, forgetting all lighting and audio elements. The event ran smoothly and the whole CT team is really pleased with its input for this project.