Salling is a large department store situated in Århus, Denmark. Salling is one of the oldest stores in the country and has just celebrated it's 100th anniversary. The store has undergone a recent expansion, and it's facade is a dominant feature in the Århus city centre. CAVI has collaborated with Salling in developing new ways of intriguiging potential customers to explore the store and it's products. This has resulted in an inspiration catalogue with 12 concepts for interactive product and store presentation and exploration. One of these concepts, The Dynamically Transparent Facade, is presently being constructed.
The Dynamically Transparent Window
A Dynamically Transparent Window responds to the movements of people passing by. Using a camera, passers-by are tracked, and the data is processed by a system that controls custom-built interactive windows on the facade. The windows are fitted with so-called electro-chromatic foil that can change from opaque to transparent when an electric current runs through it. By using thin strips of the foil, narrow bands on the facade change in order to reveal what is on display in the store when people walk by the window. The facade uses various interaction modes in order to lure the by-passers near and make them explore the display.
An additional option is to use the foil for projection as show here:
CAVI