Hoyts Cinema Technology

In developing the technology components for Hoyts Cinemas we wanted the buildings to be software driven, programmable spaces, changeable spaces that embraced contemporary technology in order to celebrate the drama of cinema. We wanted to capture the seasons of the cinema, changing the cinema experience at different times of the day and year. We have addressed this by introducing media into the space, as information and entertainment, creating a suite of digital light fittings that borrow from other industries and in treating a number of the principal internal wall surfaces as programmable electronic canvases, able to change colour and mood in response to the changes in content and patron expectation.

A significant intervention has been the introduction of a Media Platform. Developed by PIVoD Technologies this central control platform links all of the media and display devices together, allowing remote programming and most importantly allowing this cinema complex to be interlinked with any or all of the other Hoyts cinemas creating an interfacable network. The Media Platform has allowed us to design a 'virtual Hoyts' of information and experience.

With these projects we wanted to respond spatially to the opportunities generated by the burgeoning presence of digital space. We have sought to explore or identify in-between spaces where people can interact with digital space and narratives, of which cinema is just one example. It has seemed to us that the digital environment and the physical one are evolving in parallel yet strangely disconnected ways. We have sought to address this through the social, psychological, physiological and haptic dimensions of spatial experience.

Digital light walls
The digital light walls were developed in collaboration with Light Moves to use off the rack LED lighting to create affordable programmable surfaces. Over a 12 month prototyping period we developed a modular upgradeable and affordable system of control, display and construction. Like software the performance of the walls can be upgraded without physical renovation. As the patterns of cinema use are monitored so new programs can be developed for the walls performance.

Interactive touch screen display kiosks
In order to create robust and approachable touch screen display units we embarked on a 6 month prototyping program, with PIVoD technologies and Rivafab sheetmetal, undertaking research into ergonomics, potential usage patterns, casing construction and form factor design, software development, integration systems, interface programming and interface design. We presented a fully functioning prototype to the sceptical client and won them over. It now represents a set of significant new business opportunities for our client while dramatically increasing the fun-factor for end users of the cinema.

Luxury cinema light-tables
The light tables were designed to address the functional problem of eating in a darkened cinema, the challenge of creating seductive lighting that did not imitate hackneyed cinema conventions. It presented an opportunity to create a hybrid device that exploited contemporary technology. LED lighting allows us to place light within surfaces and translucent resin allowed us to sculpt a complex shape with an embedded lighting and wiring circuit. The idea was inspired by the acrylic under-lighting setups used in studio photography of food for glossy magazines. The result is novel, glamorous and functional. The light table includes a custom designed control panel to call for service.

A drawing of the light table showing the arrangement and design of the control panel and the seat numbers, which are illuminated internally. The figure 8 shape allows for wine bottles to be set in holders on either side supported from below while keeping the overall form factor very narrow to fit between the seats.

Credits

Design team: Michael Trudgeon, David Poulton
Documentation: David Poulton, Stephen Mellars, Warren Parker
Visualisation, interface design and graphic design: Glynis Nott
Cinema auditorium design by Andrij Rostek of Gray Puksand Architects
Media Platform design and installation: PIVoD Technologies
Digital Skin technology: Joe Casamento, Lightmoves
Interior consultant: Veronica Saunders
Documenting architects: Gray Puksand
Photography: Peter Clarke