ETC Audiovisuel and Digital Projection screens and video projectors are at the heart of the huge restoration project of the museum of the historic Château de Villers-Cotterêts, where King Francis I signed an ordinance that made the French language compulsory for all official documents. The recent upgrade consisted of more than 60 audiovisual areas using nearly 80 screens and 25 video projectors spread across 15 rooms celebrating French history.
With the close collaboration of architecture studio Projectiles and digital scenographer Lundi8 (from parent creative agency Artisans d’idées), the project aimed to transform the restored museum experience through integration of the latest AV technologies. The technology for the upgrade consisted of 15 Digital Projection E-Vision Laser 11000 4K-UHD and E-Vision 7500 laser projectors, with ten of ETC Audiovisuel’s media servers, Onlyview, handling the necessary warping and blending.
Encompassing a 1,200sqm exhibition area and 15 rooms divided into three sections, the Cité Internationale de la Langue Française exhibit welcomes visitors with the Un château, un territoire (‘a castle, a territory’) room, which reveals the castle’s history and architecture using a large chronological fresco, a tactile model and projection.
In this introductory space, ETC opted for a single ceiling-mounted Digital Projection E-Vision Laser 7500 4K-UHD projector to deliver an image onto a 2.9m-wide semi-spheric inverted table.
Further along the exhibition, in the une langue monde (‘a global language’) section, the la langue dans tous ses états (‘language in a state’) exhibit takes visitors on a trip around the world. Three ceiling-mounted Digital Projection E-Vision Laser 4K UHD laser projectors provide content for, respectively, two 3.9m × 3m projection areas (‘love’ and ‘revolt’) – each hosting four ceiling-hung and wall-mounted projection screens – and a third area (‘laughs’) which hosts six more projection screens of various sizes and heights.
As the journey continues into the Age of Enlightenment section, visitors are invited to sit down in front of a giant 6m-long × 3.8-wide projection screen, powered by another E-Vision laser projector, before being invited to de la langue de fer à la langue d’émancipation (‘from the language of iron to the language of emancipation’) room. There, visitors are met with a setting reminiscent of a classroom, with an E-Vision Laser 6500 projector positioned overhead. The laser projector is projecting onto the wall, akin to a traditional blackboard, covering an expansive 1.7m area.
Arguably the most challenging area, the La route des mots, une langue métissée (‘the way of words, a mixed-race language’) room, boasts four E-Vision Laser 4K-UHD laser projectors with ultra short throw lenses feed content to a 360 degree, 16m by 2.2m dome, synchronised with a four-channel PC using Onlyview software for content blending and warping. The dome’s construction was overseen by Matthieu Dheily from Sequoia Agencement, with preliminary 3D tests conducted on-site by ETC Audiovisuel to optimise projector placement.
Six E-vision Laser Projectors were installed in the dictionnaire de l’académie space (‘dictionary of the Academy’), dictionnaire des francophones (‘francophone dictionary’), salle des jeux (‘games room’) and la langue de Molière (‘the language of Moliere’) areas.
Laurent Segelle, permanent installations lead at ETC Audiovisuel, said: “In this section, we installed two E-Vision laser projectors in each space, oriented downwards and driven by dedicated PCs using our Onlyview software.”
The use of solid-state laser technology enabled flexible positioning of the projectors was designed to ensure optimal performance throughout the rooms. In the “language games” room, ETC utilised E-Vision Laser 4K-UHD projectors for a dynamic wall projection, measuring 5.2m by 3.2m, activated by visitor interaction with a screen monitor. “In the language of Moliere room, we deployed an E-Vision laser projector to cast images onto a 2.8 m by 1.9m curved surface,” added Laurent Segelle.
The exhibit continues in the Une affaire d’etat (a state affair) room, where visitors can discover the ordinance, signed by Francis I in 1539 at Villers-Cotterêts, which granted official status to the French language. In this room, one E-Vision laser projector is mounted on the ceiling for a wall projection, measuring 4.5m by 2.8m.
As the journey draws to a close for the visitors, they find themselves in the Sacristy room, an immersive space illuminated by four E-Vision Laser 4K-UHD projectors. Together, they create a vast 24m × 3.3m 360˚ view, showcasing the evolution of words to the French language. The E-Vision laser projectors, hung from the ceiling on each side of the room surround visitors in an immersive experience, providing them with an engaging epilogue.
In 2017, during his first presidential campaign, candidate Emmanuel Macron pledged to restore the historically significant place to its former glory. Six years later, the Cité Internationale de la Langue Française was finally inaugurated, with the help ofETC Audiovisuel, which undertook the monumental AV integration project assisted by more than a dozen Digital Projection laser projectors.
Laurent Segelle added: “This was, without a doubt, a major project for ETC Audiovisuel and one of the biggest we ever made in the museum sector, with very specific and challenging requirements.”
She concluded: “For the Villers-Cotterêts project, the Onlyview multi-stream audiovisual server, developed in-house over two decades ago, was selected to manage media playback across multiple servers simultaneously. This ensured the delivery of the sharpest and most flawless images, as envisioned by our image production partners. The entire network was synchronised to play content harmoniously, leveraging multiple servers to facilitate deformations, overlays, and interactivity through the Notch gateway, which enables the creation of generative content, exemplified in the magic library device.”
