Illuminarium Atlanta

Illuminarium venues are transporting visitors to places they can only dream of experiencing. With Wild: A Safari Experience, the guests experience strobe effects, gentle floor vibration, immersive, authentic sounds and scents, and realistic & responsive projection. Through the two rooms of the Atlanta’s Illuminarium, the visitors are immersed in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa without leaving Atlanta’s BeltLine.

The Illuminarium team chose HOLOPLOT and the X1 System to realise their vision, introducing a new kind of immersive experience for their audiences. The complete audio system, including all audio modules are concealed. The room is mapped with authentic audio objects, that together with the visual content, build up a rich and compelling story. The sound perfectly matches with the visual projections – fully immersing visitors in a new world, unaware of the cutting-edge sound technology behind.

The primary challenge for the audio installation was to create a sound environment that accurately matched the visual projections, further enveloping audiences in the immersive experience.

Unlike conventional technologies, HOLOPLOT audio objects are not restricted to the 2D surface of a projection wall. Sound designers can play with depth, so an audio object can appear to be far away or, on the other hand, whisper in your ear.

A combination of HOLOPLOT spatialization algorithms, homogeneous coverage and optimized arrival times enable visitors to localize audio objects with incredible accuracy. In addition, visitors can track the trajectory of an object across the venue in perfect synchronicity with the distinct visual show elements.

HOLOPLOT 3D audio-beamforming technology also allows for the creation of multiple precise audio zones in a single space, generating multiple sound fields simultaneously – each with its own content, equalization, level, shape, and position.

For each zone, the modules in that section form a soundfield capable of enveloping the listener and operating as an independent spatial audio system. Designers can create separate scenes within a single space and ensure the synchronicity of audio content to that scene.

Another major challenge faced by the project team was ensuring that the audio installation was invisible to the eye. A discreet solution was essential for creating true audience immersion in the experience. Accomplishing this without negatively impacting the sound system’s performance was achieved by positioning each speaker behind a specially designed micro-perforated wall panel. Transmission losses from the panel were measured in 3D space and fully compensated for in the HOLOPLOT optimization engine.

The result is clear, full-range sound with virtually no colouration and a completely unobstructed visual projection surface.

Illuminarium Atlanta is only the start for the team at Illuminarium Experiences as they look to roll out venues across the Unites States and beyond. Opened back in June 2021, the Atlanta venue is packed with cutting-edge technology that delivers an easily reprogrammable, multi-sensory immersive space.

On top of the state-of-the-art immersive sound system, the venue also boasts 22 foot high projection surfaces driven by the world’s most advanced 4K projectors from Panasonic delivering up to 3 billion pixels. The audio and visual technology works together in harmonious synchronicity, on a scale and level of sophistication not seen before.

Beyond purely technical feats, the project has a deeper societal value as a space for education – looking to connect both young and old with experiences they could otherwise only imagine. For example, by bringing the plains of Africa to the Atlanta Beltline, Illuminarium is able to improve societal understanding of endangered species and threatened global habitats.

This is a project that shows AV technology at its very best – providing entertainment, meaningful education and inspiration.