SAUDI ARABIA: Celebrations for Saudi Founder’s Day have become increasingly elaborate, and the 2025 edition was celebrated with multiple events held throughout the city. A national holiday, the day recognises the establishment of the first Saudi state in 1727 by Imam Mohammed bin Saud.
In support of Saudi Founder’s Day, PRO LAB recently demonstrated its audiovisual expertise with a projection mapping showcase at the Islamic University of Medinah. The showcase was part of a larger celebration featuring traditional festivities, with the AV display serving as a mesmerising centrepiece to draw audiences in.
“At PRO LAB, we thrive on transforming challenges into extraordinary visual experiences”, said PRO LAB CEO Rami Haber. “The Islamic University of Medinah project was a perfect blend of precision, creativity and cutting-edge AV technology, bringing history to life through stunning projection mapping.”
Handed a brief by Asaqefah Business Development to illuminate the grand entrance, (also known as “The Gate”) of the Islamic University Museum, PRO LAB created a dynamic visual canvas comprised of five 30,000-lumen Panasonic projectors with content fed from a pair of Dataton Watchpax62 media servers. The setup ensured seamless projection mapping, delivering vibrant imagery that accentuated the architectural beauty of the gate. Segal AV designed the associated content.
“Strategic placement of the projectors was key to overcoming the challenges presented by the site’s layout,” explains Mina Goumenaki, video brand manager at PRO LAB. “Two scaffolding structures were carefully positioned to prevent interference from existing lighting fixtures and ensure optimal coverage. The Dataton Watchpax62 servers facilitated flawless content playback, with Watchout v7 managing content mapping, synchronization and real-time adjustments.”
Panasonic’s high-performance PT-RQ35K projectors played a crucial role in the success of the installation. The intricate Islamic architectural design of the gate, with its complex Ablaq patterns, made it challenging to position the content precisely, while the reflective tiles introduced unwanted glare and light bounce. Precision in content mapping and colour calibration was essential to achieving a clean, immersive visual experience. A mixture of both hard-edge and soft-edge projector blending was employed to create a cohesive visual canvas across the gate’s surface, with Panasonic’s Web Interface allowing for real-time adjustments.
“Geometric Manager Pro makes warping, blending and alignment incredibly easy, and no licenses are needed,” explains Goumenaki. “Plus, Panasonic projectors are engineered for demanding environments. With their robust design and high performance, they’re ideal for large-scale applications like this one. Their colour accuracy is spot-on, delivering vibrant, true-to-life images straight out of the box. For projection mapping and live events, Panasonic delivers stunning visuals with minimal hassle—letting the content shine without the stress.”
Positioning the projectors was another hurdle for PRO LAB, as shadows, obstructions and keystone distortion had to be accounted for. The team conducted extensive trials to ensure the imagery aligned perfectly with the gate’s structure.
“Wind was also a big challenge,” shares Goumenaki. “It kept throwing off our calibration, so we had to keep adjusting throughout the setup to make sure the projection stayed rock solid. These kinds of challenges are what we thrive on at PRO LAB. It’s not just about setting up projectors, it’s about problem-solving and making sure the end result is something truly impressive.”
Notably, the Dubai-based distributor has been seeing increasing requests for similar visual spectacles at one-off events across the region. “We’re getting more requests than ever,” Goumenaki admits. “Clients are increasingly seeking immersive AV experiences to captivate their audiences and we’ve seen a surge in demand for projection mapping, large-scale visual displays and multi-sensory environments.”
Reflecting on the Founder’s Day event, Goumenaki says: “The most exciting part of this project was seeing how technology and creativity come together to transform a historical landmark into a living, breathing story through projection mapping. It was a true testament to how technology and creativity come together to tell a story,” she concludes. “By leveraging Panasonic’s powerful projection technology and precise content mapping, we transformed the Islamic University of Medinah’s gate into a breathtaking visual experience. Overcoming architectural and environmental challenges made the final result even more rewarding.”
PRO LAB video brand manager Edgar Pulido adds, “The PRO LAB team is grateful for the trust our client has placed in us. Despite the short notice, we didn’t hesitate to take on the project, ensuring top-quality execution as always. Looking forward to more successful collaborations.”
“This collaboration was a true example of effective partnership and teamwork, where expertise and specialties from both sides came together seamlessly and professionally,” adds Abdulkarim Madkhali, CEO of the Events and Conferences sector at Asaqefah Business Development. “From the early stages of the project, there was a clear vision, precise planning and flexible execution, all of which contributed to overcoming challenges and achieving tangible and remarkable results. Continuous communication and openness to idea exchange played a significant role in ensuring the project’s success, often exceeding our expectations. I’m truly proud of what we accomplished together and look forward with great enthusiasm to future projects that will allow us to build on this success and achieve even greater accomplishments.”