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• Realtime Motion Design, Programming and Mapping*

Originally erected in 1990 in a prime location on Frankfurts Hauptwache, the Zeilgalerie used to be the “grande dame” of the shopping malls in Frankfurt. In its first life, the much acclaimed, very post modern punched-steel curtain structure held what was the first media facade in Frankfurt, and most probably in all of Europe, designed by media artist Christian Möller. But after a spectacular start it went into slow decay for a decade and half.

For the revitalisation following the acquisition of the object by investor group IFM, 3Deluxe Architects developed a bold, new, jet black exterior speckled with 60.000 white LEDs.

MESOs task was to develop the media programme for this facade – built entirely on generative visuals – and an intelligent playout scheduler. The rather complex layout of the LED fixtures called for a bespoke mapping system, which prepares all of the graphics for the Leurocom -built Installation with sub-pixel precision.

Created entirely with our toolkit of choice, VVVV, there is a collection of several dozen generative scenes playing hide-and-seek on the original contours of the building. The briefing by 3Deluxe’s Dieter Brell was clearly defined: Simplicity, Elegance, organic flow, calmness with a few surprises now and then.
As all of these scenes are highly parametric, with a good measure of randomness strewn in, no two performances are ever the same. The software keeps calculating new and evolved frames forever.

As if that weren’t enough for a month of development time, IFM also commissioned us to develop a digital signage system for an impressive little hi-definition video wall which 3Deluxe had planned for the entrance of the building. Teaming up with 2D Design Team saasfee* we developed a realtime motion design for this showcase of the mall’s boutiques and venues that goes far beyond your ordinary digital signage system: 4 46"-screens run by a single computer, in native resolution, at 60 frames per second, embed the visual content of the shops in an effects-laden virtual 3D world.

The MESO team:

Thomas Eichhorn, Paul Scheytt, Björn Schwarzer, Philipp Lorenz, Olga Grischtschenko, Max Wolf, Sebastian Oschatz

    Project: Media facade for Zeilgalerie
    Date: November 2010
    Client: IFM Immobilien AG
    Contractor: 3deluxe / System Modern GmbH
    Location: Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    Tasks: Realtime Motion Design, Programming and Mapping
    www.zeilgalerie.de