Given the specific nature of the project, Sky-Skan and XYZ were chosen following a call for tenders by the Ville de Montréal and the planetarium. XYZ is known for its expertise in multimedia systems for museums and theatres, and especially for its design of immersive environments. By partnering with Sky-Skan, XYZ broadens its field of expertise, becoming the only Quebec company to have produced a project of this nature.

Precise metalwork
The XYZ team was exclusively responsible for assembling the structures of the two domes above the planetarium’s new immersive theatres. It is the precision with which the domes were constructed that makes it possible to have 360° projections of stars and very accurate cosmic animations. For example, both domes, each one 18 metres in diameter and more than 9 metres high, were completely covered with 502 aluminum panels that were perforated and riveted every 5 cm in a spiral pattern – a task that took more than two months!

Instead of the 9,000 stars that the old opto-mechanical projector could show, the new equipment reveals more than 300,000. It is so precise that viewers can observe stars invisible to the naked eye with binoculars! At the same time, the video projectors, synchronized with the opto-mechanical projector, highlight the constellations of the Milky Way and take viewers on space voyages with a striking degree of realism.

In addition to building the domes and integrating the multimedia systems, XYZ supplied, installed, and programmed the multimedia infrastructure for the exhibition Exo, sur les traces de la vie dans l’Univers. The Montreal firm also equipped all of the planetarium’s public areas with audiovisual systems.

XYZ: technology dedicated to culture
Created by two multimedia technology experts, Eric Cyr and Jacques Larue, XYZ Cultural Technology has taken on the mission of offering designers of all kinds the technological means to realize their creative ambitions. “We want to help creators surpass their limits,” explains Larue, “whether it is an international artist who asks us to produce a giant dynamic fresco, a curator who wants to make her exhibition an immersive experience, or a hospital director who wants to create an event around one of his departments.”

XYZ is known for its capacity to design innovative overall solutions that respond to specific creative needs. For example, to create a total immersion in the world of the travelling exhibition Hockey-it’s in our DNA, XYZ designed a completely automated environment that reacts to the visitor’s presence and movements. Along the same lines, to bring the new interpretive experience at the Air Defence Museum to life, XYZ designed an augmented reality system proposing to give visitors an iPad which they can use to superimpose 3D animated virtual images of National Defence planes and equipment onto the museum site.

Always seeking to further develop the creative dimension of their expertise, Cyr and Larue naturally turned towards the design of immersive environments. Thus, they are responsible for numerous productions of this type. Notably, the real estate developer Lodha Group recently commissioned Cyr and Larue to design the interactive presentation model for its residential development project in India. With XYZ, immersion involves combining visual, sound, and physical elements. For instance, in Aquavolt, visitors go up the inside of an old water tower transformed into a 360° projection screen that plunges them into the industrial origins of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. Rain, wind, snow, and flocks of wild geese complete this multisensory experience!

The diversity of XYZ’s mandates and clients testifies to the firm’s expertise and the quality of its services. These competencies have enabled XYZ to gain the confidence of prestigious institutions such as the Musée Pointe-à-Callière, for which it has executed a number of mandates in recent years, including the multimedia infrastructure for the new La Maison-des-Marins pavilion, the design of the exhibition Les Beatles à Montréal, and maintenance of all of the museum’s audiovisual equipment. Le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde sought out XYZ to install its new sound and video system. More recently, the Legislative Assembly of Alberta mandated XYZ to create a multimedia show designed to raise public awareness of this provincial institution.

Official name of the project: Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium
Location: Montreal
Client: City of Montreal
Architectes: Cardin Ramirez Julien + AEdifica
Project manager: Pierre Lacombe
Design team: Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon
Engineers: SNC Lavalin, Dupras Ledoux ingénieurs
Landscape architects: Fauteux et Associés Architectes Paysagistes
Contractors: Groupe Décarel inc
Specialized equipment and digital system: Sky-Skan/XYZ Cultural Technology
Technology integration and scenography consultants: Go multimédia inc.
Installation and supply of specialized equipment for the permanent exhibition:
XYZ Cultural Technology
Artists: Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon
Area of project: 10 638 m2
Budget: 48 millions
Project end date: April 6, 2013
Photographer: Ulysse Lemerisse