Illuminarium
Projection Mapping
Illuminarium
3D animation
lluminarium is a captivating Christmas Festival of Lights held at the Swiss National Museum in Zürich, transforming the museum's courtyard into a magical winter wonderland, featuring interactive light installations, culinary delights, and a variety of shows suitable for all ages. A highlight of the festival is Yuki's Musical Christmas, a light show that takes place every 45 minutes from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.. The show follows Yuki, Leo, and Diva on a magical journey as they prepare for Christmas in their wintry valley.
We oversaw the entire production of this monumental 20-minute show, managing complete direction, concept creation, technical design, and pipeline development. Our work included 3D animation, VFX, and compositing massive image sequences to bring this giant spectacle to life with precision and impact.
A Unique Venue
The projection was designed specifically for the inner courtyard of the Swiss National Museum in Zürich, an extraordinary and highly distinctive location. One of the building's defining features is the striking contrast between its historic architecture and the adjoining contemporary wing, creating a seamless dialogue between two very different architectural styles.
Designing for the Facade
The venue also presented several practical challenges. Parts of the façade were partially obscured by trees, which still retained much of their foliage during the installation period in early November. This required careful planning and placement of visual elements to ensure that key animations remained readable, impactful, and visually coherent despite the natural obstructions.
The Story
Yuki, Diva, and Leo want to make Christmas truly special, so they write a letter to Santa Claus. The following day, they discover a mysterious box containing part of a musical instrument along with a set of blueprints. The plans reveal that the instrument is incomplete and can only be assembled by finding three missing pieces hidden across three different worlds. Their journey becomes an adventure filled with discovery, challenges, and the magic of Christmas.
Technical Challenges
One of the fundamental challenges of projection mapping projects is the sheer scale of the final deliverables. In this case, the content was produced at an impressive resolution of 10,000 × 1,807 pixels, requiring careful planning throughout the entire production process.
Results
This is the point where we proudly present what we ended up with.
