Currents: Niagara’s Power Transformed
A Journey Into Niagara Power Plant’s History
Experience the fascinating transformation of water into power with Currents: Niagara’s Power Transformed. Located in Canada’s first major power plant on the Niagara River, this one-of-a-kind immersive, interactive, and multisensory show revives the 115-year-old hydroelectric powerplant through lights, colors, sound, and music, Solotech collaborated with Thinkwell Studio Montreal to design, construct, and integrate all audio, video, and lighting technologies, including interactive elements and a 3D projection mapping system to offer an epic sight and sound adventure into hydropower history.
A Multi-Expertise Approach
Solotech seized the opportunity to leverage its live productions and sales and systems integration expertise during this project. Considering the complexity and technical challenges of integrating top-of-the-line technologies and equipment in a century-old building to create a unique show experience, the addition of live productions collaborators became a key factor in the project’s success.
“We were working in a building that was over 100 years old. No one knew what we were getting into”. said Martin Kyncl, Technical Advisor at Solotech. “I was lucky enough to bring 80% of our live events crew on the project, which was like a live show in terms of gear and mechanics.”
Building the project around and even inside the existing powerplant’s equipment was not an easy task. The team had to focus on solutions: Martin found a way to insert loudspeakers inside the turbines. “It’s kind of my specialty in live events: custom stuff. We had several hundred custom parts that we had to build on short notice.”
Collaboration At Its Best
Beyond the internal collaboration between Solotech’s divisions, being able to work hand in hand with Thinkwell Studio Montreal was truly fulfilling, as well. “They were amazing and open, said Kyncl. lt was a new ground for me, so I needed support. And I got it from everyone, pretty much 24/7.”
Thinkwell Studio recruited Solotech for this project in the early stages of development. We helped finish the preliminary designs and accompanied their team until the final on-site installation. We provided advice regarding the budget, equipment purchasing, planning, and production.