Cardo Brussels
The hotel lobby at Cardo Brussels needed a media installation that could reinforce the hotel concept, remain alive during idle periods and respond to guests with personalised, culturally grounded visuals. Commissioned by Saar Zafrir Design, Refractiv developed the concept, visual system and interaction, supplied the AV system and commissioned the completed installation.
Project Details
Year:2024
End client:Cardo Brussels
Commissioner and hotel designer:Saar Zafrir Design
Location:Place Rogier, Brussels
Media layer:Interactive lobby video wall
Inputs:Live weather conditions and camera portrait capture
Refractiv role:Media concept, visual direction, software development, generative image system, hardware specification, AV supply, system integration and commissioning
AV installation:Dune SA
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, appearing as a cartoonised or Magritte-inspired version of the guest. The installation combines camera input, prompt control, live weather data and AI-driven image processing inside one operational media system, allowing the piece to move between ambient lobby artwork and guest-facing interaction without interrupting either mode.
Dune SA handled the physical AV installation. Saar Zafrir Design commissioned Refractiv and developed the wider hotel concept and interior.
Credits
Refractiv
Media concept, visual direction, software development, generative image system, hardware specification, AV supply, system integration and commissioning.
Saar Zafrir Design
Commissioning, hotel concept and interior design.
Dune SA
AV installation.
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