AV and interactive specialists Dovestarr has created a projection wall for the new Manchester bar, Texture using Optoma EH505 projectors.
The venue is a former Victorian warehouse in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, with 4m high ceilings and ornate steel beams. The 12m wide central brick wall forms the digital canvas for a variety of content to be projected during events.
Owner Nicola Hoskin explained: “I wanted to create an environment that could be changed with the use of projection and lighting instead of actual physical things. The idea for the projection wall was inspired after I saw the building as it was such a great feature of the room.
“We also wanted to be able to host corporate/creative events and the projection would give us a great USP for such events.”
Doverstarr’s design included three projectors, two edge-blended across the brick focal point and the third to project onto a 4m wide screen.
Manchester-based Masons Sound for Venues recommended Optoma’s 5,000-lumen EH505 projector for the installation due to its WUXGA resolution and its powerful image blending tools. Its image quality and brightness would also ensure the imagery remains sharp even when projected onto the brickwork.
The EH505 has multiple lens options, with zoom and focus adjustment to get the exact image size needed, while the wide lens shift range gets the image exactly where it is wanted.
Phil Mason from Masons Sound for Venues said: “It looks amazing. The bar itself is a big open box of a place. The projections absolutely make it special. It is such a clever idea to use projection to change the look and feel of the whole room. It means they can turn the venue into any theme.
“There is a really good image even though it is projected straight onto brick. This is down to the image quality and brightness of these projectors.”
Hoskin added: “People love how the wall looks. They are, at first, quite impressed with our large projection screen but when they see we can project over the whole wall, they are really impressed.
“We project everything from videos, films, art, and graphics. It looks amazing from subtle things in the background to full on in-your-face projection!”
