Project: The Bakery of the Future

On behalf of the family business Koninklijke Amarant Bakkers in Avenhorn, ShowTheme, in collaboration with Baretta Media and Incubaker, created an immersive experience.

To mark the 100th anniversary of Amarant Bakkers, former director Johan Pater was looking for a way to present the company’s vision of the future in a unique manner. The result is a thrilling experience in a 4D immersive room, where projections on all four walls take you on a remarkable journey. You start as a grain of wheat, grow in fertile soil, and then travel through the bakery. In the end, you find yourself in the dispatch hall, ready to conquer the world!

Once the ideas and requirements were clear, ShowTheme engineered the technical implementation and used simulation software to determine the optimal balance between the dimensions of the room and the number of visitors, so that visitors never stand within the projections. This resulted in a cube measuring 5 x 5 x 5 meters, in which every wall is covered with projections from floor to ceiling, mall the way into the corners where they matchup seamlessly. To support the graphic content, a 5.1 surround sound system with an additional subwoofer was installed. As an extra dimension, a scent experience was added that releases a specific aroma into the room depending on the scene.

During the show, visitors are given the impression that they are inside a virtual glass elevator that carries them on a journey through the bakery. Throughout this journey, a presenter provides live commentary on what the visitors are seeing. The presenter therefore sets the pace of the presentation and personally launches each subsequent scene (using a wireless remote control), which follows smoothly and seamlessly from the previous one. To make this possible, transparent video clips of glass elevator doors were used for the transitions between scenes; a Dataton Watchout media server handles their playback.

Epson laser projectors were chosen for the projections. To prevent visitors standing within the projection, special ultra-short-throw lenses were used; these lenses are constructed like a periscope. This has the added benefit that the projectors can be mounted out of sight above the suspended ceiling, leaving only the tip of the lenses visible, which heightens the illusion of the virtual elevator.

An Extron control system with a touch panel operates the overall installation and drives the various pieces of equipment. This system was programmed in Extron ControlScript for maximum flexibility and the ability to deploy custom device drivers. Finally, the installation is equipped with a Remote Service System that allows remote access for implementing changes or providing service.

We thank Koninklijke Amarant Bakkers for this unique commission, and we thank Baretta Media and Incubaker for the pleasant collaboration. Finally, we wish all visitors of “The Bakery of the Future” an enjoyable journey.

The Bakery of the Future