PID also designed and manufactured custom steel mounting brackets for the VersaPIXELs – which are installed in the room’s ceiling panels – and 17 special clips of digital content, working to a brief from Indigo’s Paul Nulty and gym staff. The content – including athletic-themed figures running, skipping and rowing, and a selection of ‘mood’-style clips like clouds and flying birds – is stored on the VersaDRIVE C1 and triggered by the Pharos architectural control unit, which was timeline programmed to comply with the gym’s opening hours.
Nulty recalled the origins of the VersaPIXEL specification: “We were speaking to Noel Brassey of Projected Image Digital generally regarding available products, including the sort of faceted surface effects that can be created with VersaPIXELs, and we were looking for a strong concept to produce some real dynamics in the space. From there, we seized the opportunity of creating a modern digital lighting feature using VersaPIXEL.”
The pitch of the VersaPIXEL ceiling varies across its entire surface area, starting above the first row of gym machines at a sparse 1,000mm. This gradually increases in density until the ceiling drops vertically, creating a wall of pixels at a 125mm pitch.
PID’s David March summed up: “Developing the concept with Paul and the design teams, and being involved in the entire process, right from mock-up to completion, has been very rewarding for us.”
