Glasgow's extraordinary 12,000 seat venue the SSE Hydro has a unique facade ideal for the latest innovation in sign-making: vast projected images. With its exterior made up of curved pneumatic translucent cushions coated with a special film originally developed for the space industry, the centre allows natural light to illuminate the foyers during the day and the arena to ‘glow’ at night.

Arcstream AV, specialist provider of interactive technologies and special effects for events and permanent installations, has been commissioned by Sony to supply two 20k Christie projectors to the SSE Hydro. Used to promote events and deliver other communications, the projected images are overlaid to display an image of 20 x 12.5m on the roof of the building above the front entrance.

To protect the  projectors against Scottish weather, Arcstream supplied temperature-controlled enclosures created by Tempest Lighting, ensuring that they remain fully operational even in horizontal rain. Projection is controlled via a Delta media server from 7th Sense.

Built on the site of the former Queen’s Dock, Hydro augments the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre’s (SECC) existing facilities, and will play host to around 140 events every year from exhibitions to TV shows and from rock concerts to trade shows.