Barco revitalizes city of Nanjing with a new icon

南京, CN - 2021

Why Barco:

  • Stunning experiences brought by high brightness images
  • Image blending technology for more authentic visuals
  • Rugged solutions for challenging outdoor projections
  • Less installation and shipping time

Nanjing Garden Expo Park, a new cultural landmark of the city, entered trial operation on April 17, 2021. Its opening ceremony featured Story in Stone, an immersive projection mapping show. The show transformed the cliff of the Tangshan mountain into a splendid canvas withscenes visualizing the evolution of the city throughout the centuries, and initiated a dialogue between man and nature in a new era.

Mountainside imaging revives the industrial relic

The site used to be a gigantic mining pit with heavily polluted cement factories making it the scar of the city. With the mission to revive the industrial relic and create a new immersive experience for audiences, the directors and visual design team adopted the idea of “mountainside imaging”, turning the century-old cliff wall into a permanent natural outdoor projection mapping theater. Unlike other light shows, it called for projections on an uneven, complicated, and curved façade. To bring about the immersive effects, the team had to address imaging difficulties and color loss. Smart selection of projectors, set-up location and viewing angles were essential.

After on-site surveys, the directors and visual design team opted for Barco’s UDX-4K40 as the solution to satisfy the imaging requirements of the installation. Thanks to their compact design, high color performance, and 3DLP technology, nearly 70 high-brightness UDX-4K40 laser projectors, each with a brightness of 40,000 lumens, blended the images seamlessly together and brought the visuals to life.

In unveiling the new icon of Nanjing, Story in Stone projects splendid colors and sharp images on the uneven surfaces of a mountain, which form a magnificent picture. The combination of captivating video content and the artistic play with light created an immersive experience for the audience. “Barco’s high-end projection technology fully met the needs of this demanding task. With great confidence, we are looking forward to more collaborations with Barco!” said An Zhiyong, General Manager of Beijing Shitongdaohe Culture, the visual and projection design team behind Story in Stone.

Outdoor projection restores the ecosystem with creativity

The show was intended to invite audiences to get acquainted with the rich cultural heritage of Jiangsu Province and to realize harmony between man and nature. In order to turn a 255m x 80m cliff wall into a giant “silver screen” stretching over 20,000m², Barco employed the precision optical equipment designed for indoor projection in an outdoor setting. As the installation and application of such equipment are sensitive to temperature and dust, Barco’s team specially designed a projection room for the special outdoor task. Together with the brilliant build-in modular design of our high-end projectors, this arrangement gave the equipment double protection in the open and resolved the environmental constraints. -

Through its artistic use of light, Barco revived the industrial relic at the opening ceremony of Nanjing Garden Expo Park. As an innovative way to preserve culture, the show has restored the ecosystem and exhibited the brilliance of the park remarkably. Going forward, Barco will uphold the concept of harmonious development between man and nature and continue to contribute to urban development.

Barco’s high-end projection technology fully met the needs of this demanding task.

An Zhiyong

General Manager of Beijing Shitongdaohe Culture

Talk to us

Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions. Our team will gladly point you in the right direction.