Posted in: Christie Digital

120 years of history summarized in 1,300 square meters and three floors. More than 500 original objects (trophies, costumes, photos, balls, shoes ...). Almost 600 videos, most of them interactive. We are talking about the new Athletic Club Museum, located in the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao. A space that allows visitors to immerse themselves in the world of this centennial club.

The work, which has cost 3.6 million to Athletic, breaks with the classic canons of the football museums and leaves aside the glass showcases to give prominence to color, music and, above all, to the image.

And it is a place where audiovisual technology has a leading role. And where Christie's ultrashort laser projection plays a key role: the museum has been equipped with 30 Christie Captiva DHD410S projectors with 1DLP ^® laser technology, in addition to three Christie DHD555-GS that give life to the different audiovisual attractions of space .

Specifically, the museum has 13 interactive and 11 audiovisual sections, more than 590 videos (539 of them with which the amateur can interact) and an immersive videowall of 102 screens. All this to document an exciting journey through the history and spirit of Athletic Club.

The design of the museum has involved several companies that have made the project possible, such as Espai Visual in the museological and museographic development, Virtualware and Mediapro Exhibitions in the production of audiovisual content, Charmex in the supply of projection solutions, and Erabi in the integration and maintenance of all audiovisual equipment.

Asier Arrate, director of the Museum, tells us why laser projection technology was chosen for the entire project: "Initially, the use of lamp projectors was contemplated, but then we saw that operating costs and stopping times could be improved if we were going to laser solutions. In fact, when the projectors reached 1200 hours of use, Erabi made us a simulation that showed that the laser light source of the equipment had saved us about 15,000 euros in replacement of lamps and consumables.

Regarding the choice of the Christie Captiva model, Arrate points out that his ultrashort lens was decisive: "Thanks to it, the projector can be mounted a few centimeters from a screen or wall, vertically or horizontally, allowing the public a lot of observation closest without the appearance of shadows that alter the image. It also has extremely silent operation. "

Eneko Elorriaga, co-founder of Erabi, goes further: "The quality of ultra-short optics of the Captiva is excellent, especially for museographic applications, since it allows a much more dynamic experience and avoids annoying shadows. They are projectors that provide a great fidelity of color and a very high brightness, and with the reliability that the Christie brand offers ".

"It is also interesting that they can be controlled by platforms such as AMX, Crestron or similar," continues Elorriaga. "I would also highlight that you can choose the color of your chassis, which can be white or black, which is very important in museums and is something that not all brands offer. In addition, to be able to be used in vertical mode, allows a host of creative applications.

The Christie Captiva DHD410S projector offers 4100 lumens, 1920 x 1080 resolution (16: 9) and ultra-short 0.25: 1 shooting lens. Works at full capacity up to 20,000 hours without the need to replace lamps and produces images from 80-100 inches diagonally. Highly reliable, the 1DLP engine allows you to use the projector in heavy duty applications, including 24/7 mode, without interrupting its operation at any time.

Located in the second basement of the stadium, the museum is divided into three environments, differentiated by the colors green, red and black. From the outset, the visitor has access to a metal-lined room where an audiovisual can be observed in which the moment of the creation of Athletic, the Bilbao of the late nineteenth century, is contextualized. It is a projection in blending on wall and floor of 8x2 meters that creates an immersive environment. Here six Christie Captiva projectors and three Christie DHD555-GS (1DLP laser, 5000 lumens, 1920 x 1080 HD resolution) are used.

Another Christie Captiva is used in the "Hall of the partner" projecting a logo of the club on a sheet where the names of all the partners of the history of the entity appear.

Then you access the "Line of Time", a wide corridor - actually a metal cube - that tells the history of the club from a chronological point of view throughout the 13 decades that the entity has lived. For this, 14 Christie Captiva projectors are used to create an animation of masked images of the different periods of the entity in a circular projection of 2.20 meters high by 1.10 wide.

Once the timeline is finished, we find a restored wooden grandstand of the old course from which you can see an emotional tone video reviewing the club's 120-year history. It is a 2 x 1.5 meter projection on a fabric stretched in a high contrast frame that is made with a Christie Captiva.

An adjoining room is intended for temporary exhibitions. Currently this space hosts a singular tribute to the legend of the red and white goal José Ángel Iribar and has a spectacular interactive attraction: a game where visitors can try to score a virtual goal to Iribar with a real ball in a 3.6 x arc 2 meters.

For this purpose, a Christie Captiva projector with the Captiva Touch option -which allows the user to interact with the content- and with an infrared touch frame developed by Virtualware and Erabi that provides tactility to the projection is used. This is done on a wall with high contrast paint that gives the images a better performance of brightness and contrast.

All the projectors of the museum are controlled by LAN and by the NetLinx Studio system of AMX, which manages and sequencing automatically the ignition of the same. Eight advanced show control players are also used.

The truth is that the aesthetics of the museum is spectacular, with a set of lights that makes each room unique. The sound and visual effects do the rest to achieve an enviable atmosphere. "The museum is worth it for the color, the memories and the audiovisual experience it proposes. It's a luxury for fans, and the quality of the video and the projected images are of enormous importance ", concludes Asier Arrate.

Athletic Club was founded in 1898 and, together with Real Madrid Club de Fútbol and Fútbol Club Barcelona, is the only club that has competed in all editions of the First Division of Spain. Another of the most representative characteristics of the club is its tradition of playing only with players born or formed football in the Basque Country.