New | Turning buildings into screens? We can do that, says Hong Kong inventor in advertising first
Technology turns glass panes into video screens and could soon gauge the age and gender of passers-by – and their attention span
Video is coming to a pane of glass near you as Hong Kong inventors look to change the face of advertising and entertainment in Asia.
“We could actually turn a whole building into a screen,” said Crystal Fok Lo-ming, 34, one of the developers of “video glass”, a system that turns an ordinary pane of glass of any shape or size into a projection screen.
“It’s like magic,” said Robert Chua Wah-peng, who was part of the launch team at broadcaster TVB and is now business partner to Fok and scientist Lee Shungchi at Electronic Digital Out Of Home, or Edooh.
A plastic polymer film is attached to the surface of the glass. When a small electrical current stops passing through it, it frosts, allowing an overhead projector mounted just a metre away to play videos across the surface, without interference from passers- by. The glass can also be modified to become a touch screen by adding motion sensors.
The technology is being tested at the Mia Cucina Towngas kitchen showroom in Paterson Street, Causeway Bay. What is a regular shop window by day becomes an advertising space by night, showing images of delicious food and kitchen appliances.
The core technology was developed in South Korea, where the plastic polymer film has been used in hotel bathrooms, allowing the glass shower door to become frosted or clear at the flick of a switch. Fok has since adapted the polymer to reduce glare.
