Microsoft Technology Centres are collaborative environments where experts share Microsoft's innovative technology worldwide. It's a specifically built area for world class learning and development environments for technology experts and market leaders in hardware and software to collaborate. Pixel Project were approached to create content and experiences for 2 of the video walls people would encounter as they entered the Microsoft Technology Centre, adjacent to the main Microsoft building in Johannesburg.
This first area was a 9 screen video wall for which we developed 2 apps. the first was a widget wall with live content, social media feeds and promotional videos and images. All the content is externally handled and can be updated at anytime by the client. The second app for the wall was an interactive Kinect experience where users could fly through 3D space and interact with different planets. Each planet was conceptualised to be based on various products by Microsoft such as Excel, Word etc. The panels would present conceptual data about each planet as well.
The second area in the retail section contains a large L-shaped screen made up of 8 landscape mounted screens wrapping around the room. Developing content for this was an extreme challenge as the resolution was so unusual. We created a flowing and engrossing experience using specifically sourced footage and animation. These were all themed around the micro and macro world and then edited together with time-lapses from the various cities worldwide where you would find a Microsoft Technology Centre. The effect is a seamless looping vista of cityscapes, ambient scenes and flowing animations across all 8 screens. The solution required the retailer to switch between generic animated media and specials and promotion videos.
