France - Three Groupe Novelty companies mobilised their respective technical expertise to deploy a night-time audiovisual immersive experience for the Parc des Oiseaux with a 17,000 m² projection onto a semi dried out lake.
Located 30km North of Lyon (France) as the crow flies, the Parc des Oiseaux welcomes 280,000 visitors every year between April and October, when birds migrate back to this region which boasts over 1,300 ponds. To extend its appeal into the winter months, the largest bird park in Europe has taken on a new technical and artistic challenge with Les Nuits du Parc: an immersive night-time trail which ran from November to March 2025.
The idea was to make people discover the park from a new perspective, as park director Emmanuel Visentin explains: “We wanted to bring some winter magic, an experience that would extend the link between the public and the park, without having a negative impact on our environment and its living creatures”.
Involved in this ambitious project from the outset, local technical service provider Novelty AURA, with the help of sister companies Alabama Média and Teamagine, mobilised Groupe Novelty's technical expertise to design an audiovisual and lighting show tailored to the many challenges presented by the site: complex topography, rigorous climatic conditions and strict respect for local wildlife.
Accompanying the visitors along the specially created circuit were more than a hundred spotlights (PAR LED F1, SGM P5 and P6, Martin MAC Aura XIP, Starway ZoomKolor) as well as interactive light objects created by Lyon-based designers Pitaya and Drôme-based lighting designer Tilt, all controlled by DMX512.
"From the outset, we structured this project by mobilising project managers specialised in each core business and drawn from the various Groupe Novelty entities. This organisation enabled us to deliver precise and appropriate technical solutions at every stage of the project," explains Arnaud Douchet, director of Novelty AURA and the overall technical coordinator for this project.
Over 40 discreet, IP65 JBL ‘mushroom’ speakers were scattered throughout the park to ensure continuity in the audiovisual experience between the 14 show areas. Video projectors installation was handled by Paul-Louis Blouin, video project manager at Alabama Média, with the help of Kelvin Quintois.
“This project was incredibly exciting, because it allowed us to push back the boundaries of outdoor mapping, with various projections onto a wide variety of natural surfaces and the possibility of smashing a world record for the largest surface area ever projected onto the ground,” says Blouin. Created by Les Allumeurs de Rêves, the entire scenography and video content is managed by Modulo Pi servers, with the support of Sowarp for calibration and mapping management.
The show’s piece de resistance involved three major sequences set around the semi-dried out lake: Love Nest, a monumental projection covering two sides of the Park’s panoramic tower using a couple of 20K lumen projectors rigged on their side; The Bottom of the Lake, a real technical feat featuring eight double-stacked Barco 20K lumen video projectors installed at the top of the 30m high observation tower, giving life to an unprecedented 17,000 m² projection area; and finally, The Great Ball, a bird view 30m x 30m projection in the lake using three Barco 27K projectors coupled to a d&b E12 audio system rigged above a stage.
Gilbert Coudène, founder of Les Allumeurs de Rêves, says: “The tremendous success of this project was only made possible thanks to the close cooperation between the various creative and technical professions, right from the design phase. We had a very clear roadmap: respect the wildlife, enhance the natural beauty of the park and work within its constraints to offer a truly unique experience.”
For the first time, Les Nuits du Parc made it possible to open the site in Winter, turning a traditionally slack period into a tremendous economic opportunity. “We proved that it was possible to bring visitors to the park in winter, without altering its identity or disturbing the peace and quiet of its residents,” enthuses Visentin.
