Minimal – Colour Room

Three works, three walls, a room made of colour

VisualisationMuseumFree spatial study

Visualisation of a fictional space – not a realised project.

A room of twelve by nine metres, filled with images almost to the ceiling: on each of three walls, a work from the Minimal series – Spalten, Kreuz and Raster.

Visitors enter the room from a dark corridor. The three projections reach to just below the ceiling; the coloured light of the images falls on the floor and the visitors and tints the entire room.

The three works come from the same series and together form an environment in which the cuboid traces seem to continue from wall to wall.

Technical details

What it takes to build this space: dimensions, equipment, brightness.

Image surface 1: One Barco G62-W9 projector with R9801840 G lens 0.75-0.95:1 (short throw), 9,500 lumens, hangs from the ceiling. The image measures 8.00 × 4.50 m with its bottom edge at 0.25 m; the throw distance is 6.50 m (throw ratio 0.81:1, lens shift -45% vertical). Calculated luminance on the wall: approx. 84 cd/m².

Image surface 2: Two Panasonic PT-MZ882 projectors with ET-ELW22 lenses (short-throw zoom), 8,200 lumens each, hang from the ceiling. Each partial image measures 7.20 × 4.05 m with its bottom edge at 0.45 m; the throw distance is 5.82 m (throw ratio 0.81:1, lens shift -45% vertical). Calculated luminance on the wall: approx. 90 cd/m².

Alternatives, price range and all dimensions per device are listed in the equipment list; floor plan, section and axonometric view show the projection cones.

Room

The room of the scenario and how the images are placed in it.

Room: dark room with access corridor
Configuration: one large single projection per wall

Room	Width	Depth	Height
Colour room	12 m	9 m	5 m
Corridor	12 m	4.2 m	3.3 m

Projection

How the images are created: equipment, image size, distance and mounting.

1 × Projector · Image surface 1

8 m × 4.5 m per image

Bottom edge: 0.25 m
Distance: 6.5 m
Throw ratio: 0.81 : 1
Lens shift: -45 % vertical
Mounting: on the ceiling

2 × Projector · Image surface 2

7.2 m × 4.05 m per image

Bottom edge: 0.45 m
Distance: 5.82 m
Throw ratio: 0.81 : 1
Lens shift: -45 % vertical
Mounting: on the ceiling

Real time and interaction

The film shows a recording. In the installation the work is computed live – and can respond to the space and its visitors.

Computation: live, in real time, on a high-end computer with a powerful 3D graphics card, NVIDIA RTX 4070 or higher; with many image surfaces also with several graphics cards
Output: all projectors in a room from one computer, as coordinated zones rather than separate videos
Interaction: 3D LiDAR scanners capture people and movement in the space; the work can respond to them
Fitting: mapping to the actual architecture – edges, columns, ceilings and floors

Brightness

Whether the image will be bright enough: luminance achieved against the target value. The line in the bar marks the target value.

1 × Barco G62-W9 · Image surface 1bright enough

Luminance: 84 cd/m²
Target value: 60 cd/m²
required luminous flux: 8,822 lm
Luminous flux: 9,500 lm

2 × Panasonic PT-MZ882 · Image surface 2bright enough

Luminance: 90 cd/m²
Target value: 60 cd/m²
required luminous flux: 7,145 lm
Luminous flux: 8,200 lm

Equipment

The reference devices used for the calculations. Devices of the same class are equally suitable.

Barco G62-W9

Lens: R9801840 G lens 0.75-0.95:1 (Short Throw)
Luminous flux: 9,500 lm
Weight: 17.4 kg

Alternatives (3)

Model	Lens	Luminous flux	Luminance
Panasonic PT-REZ15	ET-C1W400 (Weitwinkel-Zoom)	15,000 lm	133 cd/m²
Panasonic PT-RQ35K2	ET-D3LEW200 / ET-D3LEW201 (Kurzdistanz-Zoom)	30,500 lm	270 cd/m²
Barco UDX-4K40 FLEX	R9862001 TLD+ 90 Grad ST (0.65-0.85), am UDX-4K 0,72-0,94	40,000 lm	354 cd/m²

Panasonic PT-MZ882

Lens: ET-ELW22 (Short-Throw-Zoom)
Luminous flux: 8,200 lm
Weight: 18.6 kg

Alternatives (3)

Model	Lens	Luminous flux	Luminance
Barco G62-W9	R9801840 G lens 0.75-0.95:1 (Short Throw)	9,500 lm	104 cd/m²
Panasonic PT-REZ15	ET-C1W400 (Weitwinkel-Zoom)	15,000 lm	164 cd/m²
Panasonic PT-RQ35K2	ET-D3LEW200 / ET-D3LEW201 (Kurzdistanz-Zoom)	30,500 lm	333 cd/m²

Price range and equipment list on request.

Drawings

Axonometric view, floor plan and section show the space and the projection cones.

Minimal – Colour Room — Axonometric view — **Axonometric view** · not to scale

Minimal – Colour Room — Floor plan — **Floor plan**

Minimal – Colour Room — Section — **Section** · not to scale

Glossary

Real time: The image is recomputed at every moment, about 60 times per second, instead of being played back as a finished video.
3D LiDAR scanner: Scans the space with laser light and captures people and movement in three dimensions – the basis of the interaction.
High-end computer: A computer with a powerful 3D graphics card – NVIDIA RTX 4070 or higher – that computes the image live and drives all projectors at once.
Mapping: Fits the projection to the actual geometry of the space so that image and architecture meet exactly.
Throw ratio: Distance divided by image width. At 0.8 : 1, the projector for an image 6 m wide stands 4.8 m away.
Lens shift: Shifts the image within the lens without tilting the projector – so it stays rectangular.
Luminous flux: How much light the projector emits, in lumens.
Luminance: How bright the image surface appears to the eye, in candelas per square metre. In a dark room, about 60 is enough.
Bottom edge: The height of the bottom edge of the image above the floor.