Cardo Brussels

Brief and operational requirement

For the Cardo Brussels lobby, Refractiv conceived and created a media installation that remains visually active during idle periods while offering a playful, personalised response as guests approach. The piece needed to feel culturally specific and data-driven while remaining operationally stable as a day-to-day public installation.

Weather-driven content logic for hotel lobby media

In ambient mode, the wall behaves as a continuously changing lobby canvas. Generative AI inference produces surreal landscapes shaped by live weather data. Season, time of day, wind speed, and atmospheric conditions continuously influence mood and composition, keeping the work active even when nobody is interacting while remaining tied to conditions outside the hotel.

Portrait capture and avatar generation

As guests step into the interaction zone, the system shifts from ambient mode to portrait mode. Camera input captures the visitor and transforms the portrait into a personalised avatar. The result appears as a cartoonised or Magritte-inspired version of the guest, bringing local cultural references into a playful and immediate interaction. The installation combines camera input, prompt control, live weather data, and AI-driven image processing inside one operational media system. That allows the piece to move between ambient lobby artwork and guest-facing interaction without interrupting either mode.