Taipower D/S One – ENERGYM (Taiwan)

Formerly an electrical distribution substation of the Taiwan Power Company, now transformed to be one of the most futuristic and technological creative hub in Taiwan. Taipower D/S One, redefined from “distribution substation” to “design” and “sustainability,” has set its goal to renew not only the energy but also its operation, in order to achieve a sustainable ecosystem. Adding “One” as the street number of the building, it is to set the start point of the transformation. The redesigned logo also incorporates an exclamation mark, symbolizing the expectation of new and surprising ideas to be created in this space.

As part of the Taipower office building in Banciao district in New Taipei City, the first two floors have been redesigned to be a public place for designers and creators from different aspects as well as for the general public to join, converse, and to create new ideas. It includes three major areas, POWERLAB, D/S One Gallery, and ENERGYM, where workshops, exhibitions, and interactive activities are set to be regularly held.

In ENERGYM, combining “energy” and “gym” in its name, is a particular space for people to learn and to actually experience the generation of electricity. By exercising on various interactive devices in the exhibition hall, the visitors can “generate” power and at Discharging Field, “watch” the performance of the power in the immersive theatre. At the end of the exhibition, the installation “Power Heart Rate” allows the visitor to give electrical distribution tasks a try on the interior projected interactive table.

The Optoma TW Solution team and the Taipower D/S One curatorial team had worked closely on the project. After understanding on the demand of the installations, the solutions are presented as listed:

• Discharging Field: The Discharging Field is essentially an immersive theatre which requires projection combination as well as versatile installation. Also considering the limited space, a total of 8 short throw projectors are in place, including three WU515TST for projection combination on the wall, and five X515ST for the interactive floor projection. The projectors with high brightness at more than 5,500 lumens offers the capacity to work with the interactive devices and to perfectly present the rich content.
• Power Heart Rate: Incorporated with the interior projection interactive table, HD30UST offers ultra short throw ratio at 3,600 lumens. The indirectly light from the projector also allows people to operate on the installation for a longer time.
• In addition to the two installations, Optoma also supplied two projectors in the Workshop and the office space in the venue for the purposes of education, training, and business meetings.

Taipower D/S One, reformed from the old electrical distribution substation, has successfully drown the public and various groups to join. The technological design and the unique interactive activities curated by Cogitoimage and the collaborative team has given the old brand a new and refreshing image and meaning. Brand new events and workshops are also set to invite designers, artists and makers, and the public to co-work and co-create. The projector solutions brought by Optoma has also been a huge part of the reformation, providing high quality visuals to showcase the rich content created by Ultra Combo and 23Design.