In the last 25 years, the modern car has evolved considerably in the key areas of safety, comfort, performance, economy and environmental friendliness. Today’s cars go further still, offering drivers the option of alternative power sources, as well as new levels of in-car connectivity and communication features, to put them on the path toward a better connected driver experience.
Leading the way in developing many of the technology advances that we’ll see in the future – as well as the ones we already enjoy in the latest vehicles - is Geely Holding, a leading technology and mobility group based in Hangzhou, China.
Geely’s brand new ‘Uni3’ campus complex,located in Gothenburg, Sweden, is set to be a hub of creative and engineering excellence, where new automotive ideas and concepts will be created, visualised and discussed among onsite and remote teams, using the latest AV and IT technology to ensure collaborative working is able to underpin and support the innovations.
The Uni3 campus is a home to Gothenburg’s development know-how which, over the last century, has secured Volvo Car’s position as a leading premium brand, as well as Geely’s new car brand Lynk & Co. It is also home to the Geely R&D company CEVT, which developed the worldclass car architecture CMA which is the platform for over 800,000 sold cars to date. Therefore, the Uni3 campus will be a hotspot for innovation and will house several different tenants on site, including Geely companies and external startups and creative companies.
Helping to make Geely’s campus a compelling location to visit for meetings or tours, are visual solutions from Delta and Vivitek. Their presence onsite is thanks to China Telecom, which for many years has been highly successful in offering project management services to companies in Europe. This experience has now resulted in a highly successful collaboration between China Telecom and Delta, through which Delta supplies a variety of products and services including its own range of display solutions - as well as Vivitek’s – to the Uni3 campus.
Building for success
Currently in the first of three build phases, the campus opened its first building in 2020. From early 2021, visitors will be able to admire not just its fresh design and architecture, but the seamless way that visual solutions from Delta and Vivitek have been elegantly integrated throughout the building, in a way that reflects the
flair and creativity that exists within the campus.
In an excellent example of an integrated communication strategy, the objective of the AV installation was to create as much visual ‘wow’ and impact as possible, to enable Geely to convey its messages in a powerful, impactful way that conveys the automotive group’s design and engineering capabilities to the world.
George Li, Project Manager, China Telecom, said: “This is a very good example of how Delta really took the time to understand the environment here, and how different parts of the building and rooms would be used. That analysis enabled Delta to ensure that the most appropriate solutions for the building, rooms, visitors and staff were installed.”
A reception to remember
As with many buildings, the first area to convey the brand’s capabilities, is of course the reception. Set to catch visitors’ eyes when they walk in, is a 4K resolution LED display located in the main entrance. The display uses Fine Pitch (1.2mm) SMD technology, which combines exceptional resolution with contrast and brightness to provide a vivid and engaging image. This display conveys general ‘meet and greet’ information with the content being controlled by Vivitek’s NovoDS 4K. This offers a very affordable, network-based digital signage solution, making it ideal for creating dynamic visual displays for corporate or public spaces.
The digital signage content can incorporate text, photos, audio, video, and web content in fully customisable configurations for a variety of environments. Easy to use, NovoDS 4K offers the convenience of updating content over the network or using a microSD card. Nine powerful NovoDS 4Ks are in use at the campus’ main building, helping to easily update and manage content on the displays located around the building.
As visitors make their way through the reception area, they cannot miss the three HD LED Totem screens in the Main Concourse area. The Totem screens create a focal point among visitors and employees, with the content displayed by them - general announcements and brand videos - also being controlled by Vivitek’s NovoDS 4K. “The Totem screens are stylish and creative, as well as pushing the boundaries of technological excellence. "They mirror Geely’s brand values perfectly,"added Mr Li.
Moving through the building, two pillar screens are located, bringing information as well as colour and light to the area. Using NovoDS 4K, these can be easily set to display different content, or they can be synchronised to show that same content at the same time.
Design comes alive in the auditorium
Complementing those impressive displays,is a stunning centre piece; a full 4K, 6m wide and 3.5m high 1.5mm Fine Pitch SMD LED display, located in the auditorium, which can house up to 200 people. Doubling up as a conventional cinema screen for presentations and conferences, thanks to size of the display, it can also be used as a design aid, to help teams visualise a vehicle in true-to-life size, which is an essential capability when evaluating designs or elements of a design. To that end, the screen has been positioned so that it reaches down to meet the floor, and so more accurately reflecting the realistic perspective one would get when viewing a vehicle from ground level.
Further aiding the display’s flexibility, is its multiple input sources, while a high-spec PC and graphics card deliver the power that’s needed for designing and viewing a vehicle.
Critically, the colour gamut can be adjusted to precisely match the shade of a real vehicle, which also ensures that teams from other design centres are all seeing exactly the same, true-to-life colours when analysing or assessing a new vehicle. Other input sources include a NovoDS 4K and a remote laptop connection, from a lectern in front of the Screen, providing Digital Signage and Presentation content.
In conference mode, the screen can connect to a laptop to effortlessly display the user’s laptop screen. It can also take a feed from Geely’s internal IT network, should an internal matter need to be discussed with a large group.
Located up on the auditorium’s ceiling, is a Vivitek DU6693Z-BK projector. It faces the opposite wall to the one that the screen is located on, so that if a smaller group meeting is taking place, the most appropriate resources within the room can be used. The DU6693Z-BK was selected for its near silent running, which means that meeting participants aren’t distracted by any noticeable humming or whirring noises during meetings. Meanwhile, in the main concourse a separate light and airy meeting space designed for comfort, employees can take advantage of a high tech LCD 55” LCD display.
Deliver a vision of the future with Delta
The installation took place in one week, a process accelerated by the fact that the deployment was designed, delivered, installed - and will be maintained - by Delta, proving its capabilities to take large scale projects from conception to reality, effortlessly.
With Geely’s position as an automotive powerhouse for the future well-established, a clever and creative use of AV solutions from Delta and Vivitek provided through China Telecom will ensure that its status is communicated loud and clear to all visitors and staff when the Uni3 campus opens.