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AURA Invalides, blending creativity and technology to craft immersive experiences, represents a milestone in Montreal-based multimedia studio, Moment Factory’s professional history. The 50-minute show in Paris’s iconic Dôme des Invalides combines video mapping, lighting, music, and sound design to honour its historical heritage.
The project began in 2019, when cultural operator Cultival, inspired by Moment Factory’s AURA in Montreal, sought to create a similar experience in France. Working closely with Musée de l’Armée, Moment Factory designed and produced AURA Invalides through a collaborative, two-year effort, creating a multimedia spectacle that complements the grandeur of the Dôme des Invalides.
When the team at Moment Factory embarked on this ambitious project, they wanted to pay tribute to the genius of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, and the talent of the architects, artists, and craftsmen who created the Dôme des Invalides so visitors may discover, or rediscover, this French heritage site in a whole new way.
At nightfall, the Dôme des Invalides awakens with a display of light, music, and video-mapping, unveiling its grandeur and rich history. Visitors embark on a 50-minute sensory journey through the landmark and its six chapels, discovering hidden wonders as they go.
AURA Invalides is divided into three acts, each exploring different aspects of this iconic landmark: its construction, historical memories, and its power to inspire. Designed to captivate audiences of all ages, the experience fosters a profound connection between the public, the place, and among visitors themselves.
For Dôme des Invalides, an original orchestral score, composed to match the three movements, adds an immersive layer to the experience. The instrumentation is a blend of orchestra, synthesizers, percussion, drums, machines, and the voices of more than 55 musicians. The score harmoniously captures the essence of the Dôme des Invalides.
The technical challenges were immense, with the dome’s massive dimensions requiring more than 45 million pixels mapped onto a 3,500-m2 (37,673 sf) surface. Overcoming the building’s 10-second reverberation time, the team used sound-spatializing techniques for precise sound localization. As a result, visitors can clearly perceive where the sound emanates from. Technology was seamlessly integrated into the historic site without altering its architectural integrity.
Another major challenge was to blend technology seamlessly into this space to create a magical effect. Since Dôme des Invalides is a protected historic monument, the projection equipment had to be installed on the existing structure without altering the site’s architectural integrity.
To that end, the technical team produced a drone-enabled architectural scan, which it then transcribed into virtual reality, in the form of a 3D model, to produce a technical design that encompassed all the site’s specific features. Throughout this delicate stage (from design to implementation), the firm’s collaboration with Direction régionale des affaires culturelles (DRAC)—who protects the building’s integrity—was particularly invaluable.
This creative process pays homage to the architects and artists who brought the Dôme des Invalides to life. The scenes in the experience are historically accurate, drawing inspiration from the site’s rich history. AURA Invalides seeks to reveal and share the intangible and invisible aspects, inspiring wonder in visitors.
