The Blue Planet
At The Blue Planet, visitors dive in and experience life beneath the surface at eye level with all the fascinating creatures that live in the sea. The building itself is designed as a large whirlpool, and elements of the ocean are reflected throughout the architecture to create a complete experience for the audience. The colors are kept in blue shades, waves are projected on the ceiling, and as you move around, you are surrounded by the sounds of the sea.
In connection with the creation of Den Blå Planet, Stouenborg was tasked with handling the sound installation and creating a sound design that complements the visual elements and gives the experience of being underwater in Northern Europe's largest aquarium.
Because sound behaves significantly differently in water than in air, creative thinking was required to achieve the desired effect. This resulted in more than 600 soundtracks being played in layers and overlapping in the 11 different speaker zones that the installation consists of. The sounds together create a cacophony of waves, bubbles, singing corals, and many other sounds found in the sea. All of this contributes to a shared experience for the audience and gives the feeling of being under the surface of the sea.
One challenge of the project was designing the system so that the sounds change as you move around the building. With the correct placement of the 57 speakers that the installation consists of, it has been possible to center the sound in the different zones and thereby avoid sound spill.
The soundscape is controlled by a Meyer Sound D’Mitri system, typically used for larger shows such as Cirque du Soleil and sound design in Disneyland. The system is known for being extremely stable and capable of automatically processing and distributing complex sound designs in real-time.
The system won the Best Museum Project award at the Integration Awards in 2014.
You can also read about the work we did at the RAGNARock Museum in Roskilde.
