Daktronics Lights Up Paris Grand Rex

Russ Curry, Ministry of New Media

Daktronics was recently commissioned to design an installation to light up the façade of the legendary Grand Rex Theatre in Paris, a listed Art Deco building from 1932.

The Legendary Grand Rex

The main auditorium seats 2,750 people and remains the largest single movie auditorium in Europe. Live concerts, film premieres and first runs are held in the auditorium.

In 1974, seven additional screens were added in the space of the former basement ballroom and the building next to the theatre. The Rex Club, situated on the ground floor, is a noted venue for electronic music, featuring residencies of famous DJs, most notably Laurent Garnier.

Two custom-built vertical displays, featuring the latest LED video technology, replaced fixed banners, previously used for promotion.

The displays are approximately 11.8 meters high by 2.7 meters wide (39 feet high by nine feet wide) with pixels on 23 millimeter spacing.

Three custom, curved LED displays were also installed horizontally, embracing the contours of the building. Each display measures approximately 1.83 meters high by 25 meters wide (six feet high by 82 feet wide).

Not only are the displays relatively light, they can also be serviced from the front. A huge advantage, as displays with access to the back on that type of installation is difficult to construct.

“I’m proud to have worked with this historical theatre on such an amazing project,” said Alain Castelbou, Daktronics France, Sales Manager. “Everything looks great. It couldn’t have turned out any better.”

Every hour a theme will repeat on the two vertical displays. The content will relate to the current season, displaying snow falling, a beach, underwater views and blooming flowers. All of the displays will also provide information to customers about events, concerts and movies, currently playing or soon to come.

“Le Grand Rex wanted their displays to not only share information such as show-times and dates, but also to exhibit entertaining and dynamic content to attract tourists,” said Stef Manning, Account Manager, Keyframe.

“The content we produced for the theatre was meant to do just that by incorporating 3D characters that interact with and move between all of the displays. What we produced was well received, and I anticipate future content requests.”


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