Digital Place Solutions brings COB LED Technology to Australia
Watergardens, QIC Global Real Estate (QICGRE) VIC
Australia’s first public COB LED display launched at Watergardens, as part of the shopping centre’s latest development known as The Marketplace, March 2020.
The Marketplace at Watergardens is a significant $50 million development that opened in late March 2020. The Marketplace provides the local community with a vibrant new indoor-outdoor space that introduces a range of new-to-market street food dining and retail food offers alongside a new Aldi supermarket. The large format double-sided COB LED display is suspended above the primary customer avenue for high impact viewing within the new precinct.
Watergardens is situated in Melbourne’s growing North-West corridor and owned and managed by QICGRE.
QICGRE called on Digital Place Solutions to develop a bespoke display solution for The Marketplace. The location demanded a significant sized display to maximise the commercial opportunity for QICGRE to market third party advertising, as well as promoting retailers within the Centre. To provide ease of content management and sales opportunities, the display needed to conform with QICGRE’s standard media format to maintain content consistency, in this case a 32:9 format. Despite the Coronavirus disruptions, the DPS team was able to deliver the project by the March opening. Shipped, installed, commissioned on time and on budget.
The display design needed to respond to the client brief for maximum impact, while maintaining a minimum distance from the floor to the underside of the digital display and ensuring optimum resolution quality. The format and floor clearance criteria resulted in a display height of 1.4 metres to deliver the 32:9 format. The selection of 1.9mm fine-pitch LED complements the large format impact with high quality resolution within the given display dimensions.
The DPS solution is a double-sided 32:9 landscape display, 4.8 metres wide x 1.4 metres high in 1.9mm pixel pitch. The image resolution is 2560 pixels x 720 pixels. The 32:9 format provides the flexibility of the screen to be either a full single digital canvas, or two 16:9 windows, subject to content demands.
DPS recommended COB for Watergardens for its special features. Stephen Rubie, DPS Director, explains that “selecting a COB solution provided a high-resolution option in building blocks that easily delivered the aspect ratio and resolution demanded. Needing to be suspended, COB provides a lightweight solution with a slim-line form factor.”
COB LED has a smooth surface finish, compared with SMD LED. “COB is easier to clean and provides a more robust surface along with ease of handling during installation and servicing, unlike the fragility often encountered with fine-pitch SMD modules where the pixels are exposed,” Mr Rubie added.
The installation and commissioning were seamless across three work shifts, as final construction touches were being added prior to The Marketplace’s opening in March 2020.
DPS partnered with Ledman Optoelectronics to design and manufacture the COB display in early 2020. Despite the challenges of the Coronavirus disruptions, the DPS team and Ledman were able to deliver the project manufactured, shipped, installed and commissioned on time and on budget.
