A Boston College Turns Renovation Tarp On One Building Into Giant Digital Canvas

December 4, 2017 by Dave Haynes

A college building on the corner of Boston Common has a big, white tarp covering the facade for the next 18 months – as it undergoes rears and renovations – so that very large piece of cloth has been turned into a massive projection canvas.

Emerson College has projectors blasting visuals from what looks to be more than a block away, an effort that ties into changes the Boston Globe says the school is making to boost its image locally and around the world. Here’s a lengthy Facebook video showing the screen in action …

The project was led by Design Communications Ltd in Boston. This is what DCL’s Jeff Grantz says about the project on Linkedin:

With only a few months of preparation, DCL’s new Creative Technology Team was able to tackle a permanently installed 10 projector, 10,000 sqft, 3D mapped architectural canvas for Emerson College. I could not be more proud of our team for coming together to make this happen. A special thanks to Andrew, Mac, Shawn, Vanessa Till Hooper and Dave!

We are also excited to have had the opportunity to work directly with President Lee Pelton, Michael Sarra, Michelle Gaseau, Art Mombourquette, Margaret Ings, and curator Joseph Ketner from Emerson College.

Great projects require great clients. A project of this nature also requires vision, trust, and collaboration. Thank you to Jenna Carolan and Ross Cameron, RIBA from Elkus Manfredi. It was their creative vision and introduction that helped make this possible. The latest laser projection systems from Christie Digital didn’t hurt either. (Thanks Denys Lavigne and Sean James).

An incredible music score by Ryan Edwards and Maria Finkelmeier. The city needs more of this! As always, thanks Joyce Linehan for working behind the scenes to help make Boston brighter!

The system, Grantz says, is permanently installed, which means when the tarp comes down the projection mapping will get a lot more complicated, as the visuals will have to be mapped to the solid parts of the facade. The projected light will just go straight through the glass windows. That’s why the tarp allows such a big solid image right now.

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