Smithsonian becomes Repeat Customer with Global Immersion Dome Upgrade

January 2010 — The Lelawi Theater at the National Museum for the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington DC, USA, has reopened following the upgrade of the fulldome display system by Global Immersion. The theatre underwent the renovation in November 2009 which included integration of a new four-channel digital projection and server solution; producing sharper, brighter and more dazzling results. The Lelawi (from Delaware word meaning ‘in the middle’) Theater is one of the feature attractions at the NMAI – one of the many U.S. National Museums managed by the Smithsonian Institution and a facility dedicated to the life, language, literature and arts of Native American people. Since opening in 2004, the 120-seat circular theatre has immersed visitors in an exclusive 13-minute presentation titled ‘Who We Are’. This production was designed to portray the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary Native life – exploring the organic bond between communities and their land, religion, traditional knowledge, government and expression. The 12-metre diameter theatre recreates the traditional camp-fire, native folklore scene – featuring a concentric design with tiered bench seating located around three display systems. The digital fulldome configuration allows the audience to view the ‘sky’ above, while a central ‘camp-fire’ is simulated using a video projector positioned below the floor onto a screen representing the flaming fire around which Native Americans would tell stories. This digital ‘fire-pit’ is surrounded by four smaller screens in the center of the theatre which display accompanying show content. High visitor numbers, increasing maintenance costs and scheduled continuation of the ‘Who We Are’ show programme until 2014 identified the need for a technology refresh. Global Immersion upgraded the seven existing projectors with a four-channel Fidelity Bright™ DLP™ system – substantially increasing brightness and quality of the display, yet significantly reducing the ongoing cost of ownership. A playback server was also integrated to feed the correct resolution to the display, and to house the new Remote Diagnostic capability – promising a reliable and serviceable system for the future. Global Immersion also integrated the new electronics to the existing audio and control systems and will continue to service the facility. The original digital theatre system was designed and developed by the Global Immersion team when the company was a division of SEOS (now Rockwell Collins). For more information, visit www.globalimmersion.com