Cinimod Studio have delivered an innovative interactive lighting control system for the Peru National Stadium in Lima. Tapping into the collective mood of the crowd, lighting is used to establish a visual connection between the fans, their passion, and the game.

Working as part of an international design and delivery team including CAM and ArquiLEDS in Peru, e:cue in Germany, and Traxon in Hong Kong, Cinimod Studio created a cutting-edge mood analysis system to control the stadium façade lighting.

Using a combination of innovative technologies and lighting layouts, the façade of the stadium has been infused with a mixture of lights that allow the façade to act as a "mirror" of the crowd’s mood. In what is probably now the largest crowd controlled interactive lighting display in the world, the stadium is able to communicate the ebb and flow of excitement and disappointment to the surrounding city, thus becoming a watched spectacle in itself.


A network of customised sound level metres was deployed along the roof line of the stadium to create a dynamic map of the crowd’s noise levels. This data was then processed by Cinimod’s processing hardware and software located in the main communications room of the stadium.


Cinimod software developed specifically for the project processed the sound level data in real-time, performing a series of comparative mathematical calculations and analysis by self-calibrating algorithms. The output from the software is a "mood state" that summarizes the collective mood of the crowd.

The lighting patterns have been carefully designed to faithfully depict the moods. The patterns vary in colour, speed, brightness and scale — at times the façade can be seen to sparkle with obvious joy and celebration, other times it recoils into a subdued and disappointed state. In these variations the mood of the crowd is clearly visualised for the outside city to see and share.

Further technical details

Lighting Output

The external lighting scheme is designed to integrate seamlessly within the architectural framework, while providing the required media façade framework to display lighting patterns that depict the mood the crowd within the stadium. Working with the design of the new façade, the majority of the lights are laid out in dramatic fans of "flames" that wrap upwards around the bulbous form of the structure.

The scale of the stadium façade necessitated a very large array of colour and pixel addressable fittings. The fittings are all from Traxon Technologies, who specialise in high quality architectural LED lights. Their overall installation is linked to an e:cue architectural lighting controller that provides the required 62 universes of DMX lighting control output.

The overall façade lighting control system is comprised of 2 main components: Cinimod’s interactive mood analysis system and the E:cue lighting control system. These two components work in tandem to deliver an ever-evolving and responsive lighting display on the façade.

Technical Details of Interactive System

As is common to many Cinimod projects, the challenge was to develop a bespoke and reliable solution that would faithfully deliver Cinimod’s ambitious scheme for an interactive lighting control system. Utilising a transfer of technologies from related industries, Cinimod created a cutting-edge mood analysis system for the Stadium project.

Crowd Noise Level Mapping

A network of customised sound level metres was deployed along the roof line of the stadium to create a dynamic map of the crowd’s noise levels. This data was then processed by Cinimod’s processing hardware and software located in the main communications room of the stadium.

Mood Analysis

Cinimod software developed specifically for the project processed the sound level data in real-time, performing a series of comparative mathematical calculations and analysis by self-calibrating algorithms. The output from the software is a "mood state" that summarizes the collective mood of the crowd.

The 4 states defined states are:

Boring: The crowd has a neutral attitude to the game, indicating the lack of any particularly good game play.
Excitement: Detected by a surge in crowd noise levels, the crowd is determined to be excited by events on the pitch.
Celebration: The celebration mood would normally be triggered by a goal, and is detected by further rise within the ‘exciting’ state followed by a sustained level of constant high-level noise.
Disappointment: If the noise levels of the ‘exciting’ state reach a peak followed by a rapid decline in levels, then the software is likely to detect a disappointed crowd.

Output

The mood analysis software runs perpetually, constantly evaluating the mood. It communicates the determined mood state to the e:cue lighting controller which then sends the relevant DMX control signal to all the light fixtures.

The lighting patterns have been carefully designed to faithfully depict the moods. The patterns vary in colour, speed, brightness and scale — at times the façade can be seen to sparkle with obvious joy and celebration, other times it recoils into a subdued and disappointed state. In these variations the mood of the crowd is clearly visualised for the outside city to see and share.

Team

The lighting of the stadium was the result of teamwork from design and production offices across South America, Europe and Asia.

Concept and lighting design:
Claudia Paz, CAM (Concept)
Dominic Harris & Nick Cheung from CINIMOD STUDIO (Interactive Control System)
David Castañeda, TRAXON (Design Development)
Luke Hall (Stage Lighting)

Programmers:
Andrea Cuius, CINIMOD STUDIO
Christian Brink, E:CUE
Rafael Baggioni, TRAXON
Cesar Castro, ARQUILEDS

Companies:
CAM (Lighting design & Installation)
ARQUILEDS (Distributor and Project Management)
CINIMOD STUDIO (Interactive Control System)
TRAXON (Fixtures)
E:CUE (Lighting Software)