The new visitors' centre at the European Parliament in Brussels
Belgium - The Parlamentarium, the new visitors' centre at the European Parliament in Brussels, uses a variety of interactive multimedia exhibits to take visitors on a journey into the heart of European Politics. Electrosonic engineered and installed the main exhibition audio-visual hardware for Stuttgart-based designer Atelier Bruckner. The Parlamentarium is the first visitors' centre fully accessible in 23 languages, and to-date has attracted over 120,000 visitors from across the globe.

Guided through exhibitions by a personal electronic multimedia guide, visitors see how policy decisions are made and how they influence Europeans' daily lives. All signage and media is presented in 23 languages, which had an enormous influence on how AV techniques were used throughout the centre.

Electrosonic won the bid for the project in an open Europe-wide competitive tender; the scope of work consisted of the detailed design, supply, installation, set up and commissioning of the media hardware for different themed exhibition areas. These areas include a pair of 360ยบ theatres, nearly 100 LCD panels, an innovative voxel display featuring 13,000 LED globes, 140 computers, multichannel audio, 40 km of signal cables and 18 racks of equipment.

Electrosonic also integrated RFID hardware for customised, language specific handheld Multimedia Guides supplied by Nous of Austria; they consist of repackaged Apple iPod Touch units augmented by RFID technology to provide customised interactivity, including exhibit activation in the visitors' preferred language.

(Jim Evans)


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