AV integration specialists Carillion Communications helped deliver innovative display and presentation technology for the GOLD medal winning Montessori Centenary Children’s Garden at the 2019 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. To achieve the garden designer’s vision of helping children gain a highly visual, dynamic and immersive garden experience, Carillion chose to install an outdoor daylight readable display from Peerless-AV. The Xtreme™ High Bright Outdoor Display met requirements for a screen that would be able to withstand exposure to water with beyond expectation performance.
Celebrating the pioneering vision for Early Years education introduced in Britain by Maria Montessori in 1919, garden designer Jody Lidgard’s garden reflected the child-led and future-driven principles at the heart of a Montessori approach to education. The garden was designed to provide a Montessori classroom space to nurture children and teach them about the natural world alongside the modern technology that is the future of horticulture.
The chosen 55” Xtreme display offers outstanding video quality, along with the durability and longevity for any digital signage or entertainment application. Truly sunlight readable, the display offers 2500 nits of brightness and outstanding video playback quality. Fully sealed, without the need for exhaust vents or additional HVAC equipment, the Xtreme operates from -35°C to 60°C, is IP68 rated against the ingress of moisture and dust, and features IK10 rated impact resistant safety glass.
Garden visitors could direct a fishcam to show on the Xtreme display what was happening on the pond’s bed. Carillion’s Barrie Guy designed and built the camera interface that gave so much pleasure to children, who seized the initiative to use the camera above ground to trace the activity of bees around the garden.
“The choice of the Peerless-AV screen was key,” said Carillion’s Barrie Guy. “The area was exposed to water all day and we needed it to work outdoors in a mix of environmental conditions for 12 hours a day for the 6 days the show was live.”
Some Famous Faces using the Fish Cam! Photo credit: BOS.
Another display in the classroom using Peerless-AV wall mounts opened every potential for children to present content. Just as business users collaborate and switch seamlessly between the slides and presentations of different presenters, so children can develop and share their own content. They can connect using local media, or from remote locations further away, such as their homes, or their gardens at home, using any device – phone, PC, iPod and the like.
The garden included more technology features, including a propagating greenhouse that doubled as a teaching area, where children could grow micro vegetables using cutting edge hydroponic technology, and a dipping pond to learn about measurement, sinking and floating in a fun way.
Carillion’s Barrie
Guy concluded: “We’re always happy to extend the boundaries of audio-visual
communications technology beyond classic business and commercial applications.
Collaborative and display technologies are becoming increasingly important in
education, to prepare children for their future in an increasingly
technological age and to facilitate learning. It’s been great to see how
fearless children are with today’s technology; they already understand cameras
and how to share content.”
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