12.02.14
'Digital Mount Rushmore' created for Sochi Winter Olympics
British architect Asif Khan has created a giant 26ft pinscreen using 10,000 coloured cylinders which can relay 3D images of visitors at the site of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The 8-metre-high structure is designed to function as a giant pinscreen where narrow tubes move in and out, transforming a flat facade into an interactive 3D surface capable of morphing into the shape of a face.
The 10,000 cylinders, called actuators, extend out to lengths of up to two metres to recreate the shape of the face. Each actuator has an RGB-LED light at its tip, making it possible to precisely calculate the position of every pixel.
Five photographs will be taken of each participant's face from different angles, before being assembled into a single 3D image.
3D photo booths within the pavilion and across Russia in MegaFon shops scan visitors’ portraits to be recreated at the pavilion. The goal of the project, called ‘MegaFaces’ is to give the general public the opportunity to be the face of the Olympics.
The structure, which has been dubbed, the 'digital Mount Rushmore', after the famous American monument, stands at 26ft tall. It is part of a 2000 m2 pavilion and landscape for MegaFon, a Russian telecoms company and partner of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
The structure is sited at the entrance to the Olympic Park, and incorporates an exhibition hall, hospitality areas, a rooftop viewing deck, an amphitheatre and two broadcasting suites.