My-tronic GmbH Is Introducing the Shahrazad LED Pixel for Architectural Multimedia Applications

My-tronic GmbH's Shahrazad is a powerful LED pixel with special characteristics and remarkable attributes, that make this product the most flexible and innovative of the kind, a product that opens new paths in the era of the digital technology's marriage with the SSL (solid state lighting) technology.

The shape of the Casino Grand Lisboa in Macau (a lotus flower) demanded for a special solution made possible through the collaboration between the world renowned corporation Siemens, my-tronic GmbH (to design and manufacture the special LED pixels that will transform the façade of the Casino into a giant multimedia display) and the media architects from fluxfelt, conducted by Klaus Teltenkötter (to integrate the LED pixels onto the façade). Thus Shahrazad was born!

Designed as an assignment of Siemens AG to expand the architectural lighting possibilities of the Casino from simple accent illumination purposes to multimedia applications, my-tronic GmbH's Shahrazad is a powerful LED pixel with special characteristics and remarkable attributes, that make this product the most flexible and innovative of the kind, a product that opens new paths in the era of the digital technology's marriage with the SSL (solid state lighting) technology.

Shahrazad LED - The Story Teller

Three of my-tronic's brilliant engineers Thomas Steffens, Cristian Olariu and Swen Gordner, created a product that has it all: this cluster is made using some of the best LEDs on the market (Nichia) to ensure quality and color purity. Shahrazad provides for a modular system that can be easily extended: such clusters could display light effects and real time videos on buildings with different shaped façades (either regular or irregular) due to their particular mounting system (easy to install, no distributor modules needed in the façade) and their optimized lenses that offer a good visibility from any viewing angle. Each Shahrazad LED cluster is carefully examined and tested for quality, especially in color rendition: 10 bit resolution per color external and 14-bit resolution internal. The increased internal resolution is useful for color linearisation according to the human eye perception and for color calibration to compensate the differences of the light intensity between the pixels (in a multimedia wall each Shahrazad LED cluster acts as a video pixel).

Shahrazad's unique characteristics go even further: the pixels can be recalibrated directly on the façade of the building due to the in-system software update feature. Special sensors check the onboard temperature to avoid possible damage caused by overheating and to monitor and detect eventual bad cable connections.

Being mainly designed for outdoors use, the LEDs and electronic circuits in each cluster are encapsulated in Aluminum housings with heat-conductive sealant for good heat dissipation. This ensures a good protection against environmental influences (amplified by the diffuser made of a special PLEXIGLAS® blend that confers to the products an excellent UV stability and no falsification of the color purity), robustness and good weatherability.

All these features and many other not mentioned here due to their particular technical specific make Shahrazad a unique product recommended for various architectural and visual applications where modular, controllable; energy efficient lighting solutions are needed.

Why Shahrazad?

For her uniqueness, beauty and charm, intelligence and power to tame, and above all for her ability to tell amazing stories in 1001 nights, stories that will live till the end of time. Shahrazad shines!

A Glance at the Cityscapes of the Future

"The cityscapes of the future will be determined not by architects, but by video artists" prophesied Willie Williams, video and stage designer. But how would it be possible to bring such a vision to life?

There are already large video walls mounted at the top of the highest buildings in cities all around the world. We all know the so called "LED screens" or "LED billboards" displaying various advertisements and even live broadcasts of sport events, concerts, public celebrations and so on. But these screens, although they do employ cutting edge LED technologies, couldn't possibly be the means used by the multimedia architects to shape the cityscapes of the future. Is Willie Williams' vision reduced to the use of LED billboards, or is there something more to it?

At the dawn of the multimedia concept a new area of expertise was born: multimedia architecture. As a consequence the multimedia architects argue that video artists will determine the future of architectural lighting. They feel that architectural lighting means much more than just video art. Multimedia lighting is going to be used to enhance a building not only by increasing its visual impact, but also by providing a balance between the lighting design and the architecture, adding dynamism and functionality. We speak about the merge of more than just LED technology and digital technology. We speak about a blend of technologies: multimedia architecture, art, SSL and digital, all influencing the way lighting integrates within the architectural whole.

We are looking at a future of the multimedia cities with multimedia corporate buildings, multimedia homes, multimedia arenas and plenty of other multimedia solutions. We foresee the broadcasting of anything from real life films to special effects on huge LED walls that will transform the building façades into masterpieces of art. We already have a vision of what the future of the architecture and architectural illumination will look like: a magnificent fusion of technologies and a leap into a magical world of shapes, dimensions, colors and light we've barely yet even imagined.

The few multimedia buildings spread around the world are just the first drops before the downpour. Architects and light designers, visual artists and lighting engineers have joined to create the most astonishing buildings ever. This light and building revolution inspired my-tronic's engineers to create the powerful Shahrazad.