The premiere edition of Cruise Ship Interiors International features an article by NED's Michael Lindauer about entertainment system technology on cruise ships.
Nautilus Entertainment Design's successful history of designing and commissioning entertainment systems for Carnival Corporation's new cruise ships led Carnival to involve NED in the development of their first privately owned seaport, located in Long Beach, CA next to the historic Queen Mary and situated within the world's largest geodesic dome. Carnival enlisted NED originally to design the local audio and video systems as well as a small Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) system to cover the needs of the Port Security force hired to monitor the facility. NED's role was later expanded to include coordinating and designing the various security systems for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services and U.S. Customs Services, now consolidated within the newly formed Department of Homeland Security.
The inherent acoustical properties of working within a dome presented several design challenges for NED's lead audio designer, Alan Edwards. "Our primary goal was to maximize intelligibility of the paging system, throughout the facility" says Edwards, "as well as provide a system that would sound good playing background music". A combination of full-range column-array loudspeakers and digital signal processing provided the necessary components to achieve this goal. To accomplish the task of paging, a telephone interface with a digital message recorder was employed. This combination allows for flexibility of paging from any telephone location within the facility while the digital message recorders eliminate the possibility of feedback and allow for stacking of messages to eliminate page collisions.
In combination with the paging system, a series of forty-two inch plasma screens positioned in strategic locations around the facility provide passengers with critical information. Carnival's internal Video Services department handled the video content while NED handled the technical design of the system and coordination of the installation and commissioning.
NED designed the CCTV systems, emergency Duress systems, intrusion detection systems and inter-agency visual alert and call systems to conform to the strict Post-911 regulations of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services and the U.S. Customs Services. NED worked closely with Carnival, port security, and representatives of INS and Customs to develop a system which can be shared between the local security personnel and the government agencies. The resulting system consisted of a combination of 33 fixed and pan-tilt-zoom cameras, digital matrix, and digital recorder. Michael Lindauer who designed the CCTV systems says, "By creating 3 separate systems, one for Customs' private areas, one for INS' private areas, and one general system for all public spaces which can be shared by INS, Customs, and Port Security, we were able to keep the costs in line while providing all of the necessary functions."
The terminal project culminated with the Carnival Ecstasy docking for the first time on April 15th to begin the facilities operation. Currently, Carnival plans to make this the home port for two ships, the Carnival Ecstasy and Carnival Elation, both of which operate 3, 4, and 7 day cruises to the Mexican Riviera.
NED earned a 2003 Electrical Excellence Award from the Los Angeles County chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association for work on the cruise terminal.
The team at Nautilus Entertainment Design completed the entertainment facility designs for five luxury cruise ships in 2003. July saw the birth of a new Carnival Conquest-class ship, the Carnival Glory. At 952.1 feet in length, this "stretched" vessel is the second of the Conquest class and 60 feet longer than her sister ships, the Carnival Destiny, Carnival Triumph and Carnival Victory.
Color is a central design theme aboard Carnival Glory, with each public room celebrating a different shade of the rainbow. Old Glory, the main atrium, features paintings of U.S. flags, and colorful rooms from history have inspired some of the other decor on board. For example, the Platinum and Golden Dining Rooms are designed after the famous Silver and Golden Temples in Kyoto, Japan.
Carnival Glory boasts a fully outfitted three-deck 1400-seat main theatre, with a four-deck-high stage house. Called the Amber Palace, the theatre is named after Russia's famous Amber Room, a gift by Frederick the First of Prussia to Peter the Great in 1715. The theatre is complete with a versatile audio system, including surround-sound, and an extensive lighting system using the latest Ethernet-based DMX distribution and moving light fixtures. Also included is a full-height automated scenery fly system with 25 motorized line sets, an eight meter diameter turntable with an integrated step unit, and a motorized orchestra pit with rolling bandwagon.
NED coordinated the designs and commissioning of the main lounge systems, as well as entertainment systems for 26 other public spaces including lounges, bars and clubs, the health spa, corporate meeting rooms, children's areas, and crew areas.
In keeping with the colorful theme of the ship, Carnival Glory's interior design incorporated extensive LED backlit ceilings on the main public deck. Envisioned by interior design architect Joe Farcus, these aluminum and plexiglass ceiling panels were backed with lengths of red, green and blue LED strips, which provided continuously changing kaleidoscopic effects. HMS Italy engineered and built the ceiling panels, with NED coordinating on behalf of the architect and owner. Due to the large number of control channels required, the system was controlled with 3 separate Whole Hog PC controllers.
HMS Italy engaged Prelite New York to model the entire system with WYSIWYG pre-visualization software prior to commissioning. NED's Michael Lindauer explains, "Prelite NY worked in their studio, producing videos for each of the areas programmed, which were sent to the architect in advance. The architect was able to approve the programming well before the system was completed, significantly reducing the number of man-days required for on-site programming. Prelite's Rodd McLaughlin flew to Italy for just two days of touch-up programming - which were mostly timing changes."
The "kaleidoscopic" theme was extended into the three-deck-tall main atrium wall. NED investigated several options for projection to fulfill the architect's concept of "light that creates a giant abstract painting that will never look exactly the same . . ." For a number of reasons including size, lamp life, and simplicity of operation, NED chose the Optikinetics GoboPRO projectors with liquid oil effects wheels on rotators. NED commissioned the completed system, and supervised the focusing and programming of the projectors.
In total, NED was responsible for the specification and commissioning of entertainment systems for 27 areas on the ship, the programming of the public area house lighting and specialty house lighting, and the commissioning of the broadcast center systems.
The October 2002 issue of PLSN featured an interview with Jim Tetlow about his career and the development of Nautilus Entertainment Design. Jim was interviewed by PLSN again for an article about lighting design on board cruise ships for the May 2003 issue.
Entertainment Design magazine published an article by NED consultant Alan Edwards in the May 2004 issue. The article explains the unique challenges that cruise ship venues present to audio designers. NED consultant Michael Lindauer contributed to the June 2002 issue of Entertainment Design, writing an article discussing rigging systems for cruise ships. That issue also included an interview with NED's Jim Tetlow about entertainment facility design for cruise ships. The articles are available from Entertainment Design's webpage by following the links below.
LiveDesign: "Designing Flexible Audio Systems For Cruise Ships" by Alan Edwards
LiveDesign: "Cruise Ship Technology: When Down Isn't Down" by Michael Lindauer
Live Design: "A Q&A With Cruise Ship Guru Jim Tetlow" by Ellen Lampert-Gréaux
Nautilus Entertainment Design (NED) has met many interesting challenges over the years, but the one presented by Heinz was red hot! In June of 2002, the H.J. Heinz Company and the Pittsburgh Steelers announced a 20-year partnership to name their new stadium "Heinz Field." This 65,000-seat venue replaces Three Rivers Stadium and is the new home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and University of Pittsburgh Panthers. The agreement gives Heinz an exclusive platform to promote its brand and products to millions of football fans around the world, according to William R. Johnson, Heinz Chairman, President, and CEO.
To establish their identity in the new stadium, Heinz wanted to use a unique, identifiable icon - specifically their classic ketchup bottle - which is recognized worldwide. Eager to make a definitive statement, Heinz marketers developed the concept of forcing the competition to play "ketch-up football". A variety of different arrangements, sizes and materials were considered during the design process, including an LED display in the shape of a 3D ketchup bottle.
The final decision was to create two semi-3D photo-realistic structures - 35' long, 9' high and 6' deep - in the shape of Heinz ketchup bottles. These devices, which weigh several tons each, sit atop the Sony Jumbotron scoreboards inside the stadium. When the Steelers or Panthers get within the "Heinz Red Zone," otherwise known as the area between the 20-yard line and the goal line, the bottles will tilt downward, the caps will flip up and ketchup will flow downward toward the scoreboard, starting an animation sequence on the Jumbotrons. This is to urge the home team to "pour on" the points. They may also be used when a touchdown is made.
NED was contracted to design the structures and manage the project from the construction through the installation of the signs. The company became involved very early in the design process, developing a number of different options at the request of Heinz. Their 3D drafting and rendering capabilities allowed them to rapidly generate images of the various possibilities and provide views from different locations around the stadium, which was highly valuable because the time frame to design, construct, install and program these devices was very short. One of the requirements established by Heinz was that the bottles should appear completely realistic, yet animated at certain times during the football games. To accomplish this, the bottles are fabricated of red tinted fiberglass resin and internally illuminated with red neon. There are cutouts for the white labels, which are actually light boxes. When tilted, the mouths of the bottles are aligned with LED panels mounted on the face of the scoreboard leading to the Jumbotron displays. The LED panels are programmed to simulate the ketchup pouring out of the bottle and down to the Jumbotron, which then displays additional animation of the entire Jumbotron filling with Heinz ketchup.
Young Electric Sign Company of Las Vegas (YESCO), a company well known for many of the Las Vegas casino signs, constructed the signs for the field.
The new icons were seen by the public for the first time on the Monday night football game on October 29th, 2002, broadcast by ABC.
The NED office in New York provided the project management, while the research, design and drawing packages were created at NED's home office, located in La Jolla, California. The NED project manager was Bill Havens, who shared the onsite installation supervision with Denis McCubbin. The NED staff provided 3D renderings by Carrie Sefcik.
Michael Doherty, general manager of communications at Heinz Frozen Food Company, who was the company's coordinator for the new stadium commented: "Nautilus was selected to design and manage this project based on their track record and their unique abilities to integrate all of the various technologies that were required on a very tight schedule. Their 3D design capabilities allowed everyone involved to visualize the final product at the very beginning of the design, putting everyone on the same page on a project that could not afford any delays."
