Post 36: A Show for the Alys Stevens Center?

   I was contacted a month or so ago by the Events Coordinator at UAB's Alys Stevens Center for the Performing Arts about the possibility of doing an Architectural Projection on the facade either for the opening or the closing of the 2012 Season(September 2012 or April 2013). The idea is to reach out and try to get interest for the Arts and draw in a public from the community at large that would not normally come inside the building for shows, and hopefully make them new spectators for the rest of the season.
  Obviously, I am very interested in doing this, even though the building is a little underwhelming architecturally to create this kind of show. It is a big challenge, and that is what I live for... 
  There are a number of technical problems to deal with: the large expanse of plain red brick, the curve of the wall, the rather ugly sign, the asymmetrical design, the rotating sculpture in front of it, and the solid awning on the right side(that could cast a black shadow). Also, not so much can be done with the building itself in terms of "transformations". I could obviously not make it into a bronze clock, a pipe organ, a wooden cabinet of drawers, a curiosity cabinet with loaded shelves, or a church choir like I did for the Red Cross Show on a symmetrical columned Art Deco downtown building. But then I wouldn't want to repeat myself anyhow! I can come up with a different kind of show, invent more, go further afield...
  To get good varied clear and bright images, the brick would really have to be covered with some kind of light colored fabric. The main projection would have to be limited to the main facade, with possibly an extra sideways lower definition projector on the side building to the right for color effects. The main HI DEF 1920 x 1080 digital projector would have to be placed right at the foot of the sculpture with a wide angle lens capable of covering the main facade. I have a meeting lined up with my projector guy Mat next week to see about that:

  Ideally, the fabric "screen" should be stretched straight in front of the curved brick wall on some kind of frame, and the glass areas and brick recesses in the lower colonnade filled in with panels stretched on wooden frames as I did downtown back in April:

  
That would give us a projection area on which to both recreate the actual building, make it move, shake, open it up, tear it down and rebuild it, but also invent new buildings and make all kinds of things happen totally unrelated to the architecture of the building.