Occupying a total area of 2,396 m2, the Kazakh pavilion aims to introduce visitors to the theme of protecting natural and agricultural resources, culture and the idea of sustainable development. The centrepiece of the pavilion is the Main Show, an immersive 3D stereo full dome theatre supplied by Munich-based dome technologies developer Sky-Skan Europe.
Under the 15m domed projection screen, visitors are whisked away on a virtual flight over Kazakhstan's vast and magnificent landscape, passing cornfields, canyons, wild horses and other animals, to land safely in the Kazakh capital Astana, where World Expo 2017 will take place. To fully envelope the audience in the experience, Sky-Skan created a spatial audio environment with an IOSONO sound system by Barco Audio Technologies.
The 42.4 speaker audio installation uses the IOSONO CORE audio processor and loudspeakers from Fohhn Audio that are arranged in four layers for full acoustic immersion.
"Barco's IOSONO products provide not only a captivating sound experience but are also very reliable, which is important in an environment like this," says Glenn Smith, managing director of Sky-Skan Europe. "We are confident that the sound set-up will help touch the audience emotionally and physically."
"This is the third time that Sky-Skan and Iosono have collaborated on a World Expo experience and we are certainly seeing increased interest in immersive sound in the visitor attractions market," says Olaf Stepputat, director of Barco Audio Technologies. "We look forward to future projects in this field and I'm positive this won't be the last World Expo with IOSONO sound."
The World Expo in Milan, Italy, runs from 1 May to 31 October and expects to draw more than 20m international visitors. The main theme of this year's exhibition is Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.
(Jim Evans)
