California NanoSystems Institute, UC Santa Barbara
"The AlloSphere is a unique, one-of-a-kind scientific instrument that is a culmination of 24 years of Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin's creativity and research efforts in media systems and studio design. She approached the design of the AlloSphere in much the same way that she composes a piece of music...
The AlloSphere space consists of a 3-story cube that is treated with extensive sound absorption material making it one of the largest anechoic chambers in the world. Standing inside this chamber are two 5-meter-radius hemispheres constructed of perforated aluminum that are designed to be optically opaque and acoustically transparent.
There are currently two projectors, soon to be multiple high-resolution video projectors, mounted around the seam between the two hemispheres, approaching eye-limited resolution on the inner surface. The loudspeaker real-time sound synthesis cluster (around 500 individual speaker elements plus sub-woofers) is/will be suspended behind the aluminum screen resulting in 3-D audio. Other clusters include simulation, sensor-array processing, effector-array processing, real-time video processing for motion-capture and visual computing, render-farm/real-time ray-tracing and radiosity cluster, and content and prototyping environments."
See: http://www.allosphere.ucsb.edu/index.php
VIDEO EXCERPTS
View videos on their media page illustrating work "that allows the AlloSphere Research Facility to function at both the atomic and macroscopic levels. Scroll through the video player to view incredible visualisations. Sample video excerpts from some of their projects.>>Artificial Nature/Biogenerative Art
>>AlloBrain
>>Multimodal Representation of >>Quantum Mechanics: The Hydrogen Atom
>>Artistic Patterning and Structural Growth New Atomic Bonding: Multi-Center Hydrogen Bond. An Interactive Visualization and Multi-modal Representation of Unique Atomic Bonds for Alternative Fuel Sources
Video Excerpt from the TED conference. (Technology, Entertainment, Design)
"JoAnn Kuchera-Morin demos the AlloSphere, a new way to see, hear and interpret scientific data. Dive into the brain, feel electron spin, hear the music of the elements ... and detect previously unseen patterns that could lead to new discoveries."
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/joann_kuchera_morin_tours_the_allosphere.html