Arcandor AG Revamps HQ

German retail giant Arcandor AG has revamped its headquarters with a giant audio-visual presentation wall.
The tourism, department stores and mail-order services company, whose major brands include Karstadt department stores and Thomas Cook Group, turned to Triad Berlin to develop a four-floor fixed multimedia communication concept spanning the main HQ building.
Triad Berlin used Medialon Manager V3 Pro as a centralized control system for various installations in the HQ, the most complex of which is an interactive, kinetic picture wall. The user interface is a scroll wheel, which allows the visitor to select four different presentations that are then shown on three seamless plasma screens moving across the wall and various moving-picture boxes. Medialon controls a Dataton WATCHOUT cluster, custom microprocessor boxes for lighting and kinetic control and the audio system.
The same control computer also controls the rest of the interactive multimedia installations on the other three floors using IP network-based protocols.
On the first floor, a Medialon MIP (under control of Medialon Manager) is used to playback films on a large screen, while at the other end of the floor space, an outdoor kinetic advertising system displays large slides depending on the time of the day.
The second floor houses two information walls displaying graphic information on three large integrated TFT screens. When a motion detector perceives a visitor, the pause loop is interrupted, the lighting changes and a Dataton WATCHOUT cluster plays back a presentation that spans the three screens.
On the third floor, Medialon Manager controls several standalone exhibits.
For more information, visit: www.medialon.com/products/manager_4.htm
(DS)