The Gold Room is an interactive installation commissioned by Facebook to create an immersive interactive experience for visitors, families, and friends. The light and sound piece was conceived by Black Egg for the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 as a futuristic chamber inspired by movement, Brazilian design, geometry, and sports.

This project, developed by PlayModes and MID, is a 12’ x 12’ enclosed digital installation designed to surprise and delight users with innovative light and sound design combined with bullet-time photography, an innovative 360-degree style still-image capture. Participants enter the futuristic chamber and experience a 45-second entertaining audiovisual show. Within the 60 seconds, the 360-degree camera system will take three image captures. Every 15 seconds, light and sound cues will alert the participant to freeze while each of the 24 cameras simultaneously captures an image of the person. When the experience is over, the interior will return to “sleep” mode and the person will exit the structure. The 24-still images will be stitched together into a movie file, and the visitor will have the option to share the movie file via email or on Facebook.

Inspired by geometric abstract art and optical illusions, we will create the illusion of movement, preventing the viewer’s eye from resting long enough on any one part of the surface to be able to interpret it as a still image, generating a feeling of total immersion and a loss of balance in some situations.

In this collaboration, MID took charge of all the engineering and technical design of the installation as well as the development of remote control and automation software, such as synchronization between lighting, sound, and cameras.