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Client
City of Rotterdam x Eurovision
Partner
DEPT®
Description
Helping DEPT® to deliver a groundbreaking virtual experience for the Eurovision Song Contest, crafting an accessible 3D world to host Eurovision

Eurovision Village

The Case

A groundbreaking virtual experience; the first of its kind in the Eurovision Song Contest history.

The Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s longest-running, international music competition. Since its inaugural event in 1956, 52 countries have participated at least once, creating a fan base that stretches across the globe. Today, over 180 million people tune in to watch the televised competition, with over 20,000 attendees travelling to the host country to enjoy the contest in person
Usually, The Eurovision Village sits at the heart of the physical experience of the contest; it’s a place where fans can meet up to enjoy the music, socialise and embrace the positive vibes. With the pandemic preventing mass gatherings, for the 2021 contest, Rotterdam Festivals reached out to recreate the physical atmosphere of The Eurovision Village in a virtual world.

Key Objectives

  • Handle millions of people on a 3D website: With React, React Three Fiber, Three.js and ChakraUI we created a 3D virtual event in under 16MB for millions of people to enjoy.
  • Ensure WCAG Level 2 compliance: Together with DEPT® we perfected a internal guide we call ""Accessible 3D"", with this we can hook 3D elements up to HTML buttons or links to create native interactivity, turning inaccessible 3D objects into a functional, accessible HTML powered website.
  • Performant Animations: We used GPU accelerated- and CSS animations throughout the site combined with Framer Motion when needed.
  • Live Content Updates: We built a system that checks if the content in the CMS is updated every 10 seconds, and if so: updates the content, live. Say goodbye to typo's.
  • Stability: To make sure people from around the globe could experience this event, we optimized performance and load time. The whole website was loaded in under 16MB, smaller than your average video. Allowing a wide range of phones, tablets, laptops and desktops to visit the site on almost any internet connection.

Designing a 3d world

The 3D world encapsulates Rotterdam’s cityscape with modern architecture, cube houses and landmarks. The map features some of Rotterdam’s most impressive sites, including the Erasmus Bridge, the Euromast and Markthal. People from all over the world can virtually explore these iconic buildings, meet local heroes, learn interesting facts and feel the atmosphere of the city.

Eurovision Village
Eurovision Village

Embedded Live stream

Next to the 3D representation of Rotterdam, users were able to visit sponsor booths and watch the official Eurovision livestream right on the website. You flew into the screen, and the livestream started playing. Because of the sheer amount of viewers we implemented an advanced livestream system to reduce the additional load.

“...if you are looking for good programmers, high quality code, innovative technology and you like humor; These guys are the ones you’ll want...”
Max Kunkels, QA Engineer @ SpriteCloud
Markthallen in Eurovision Village

Recognitions & Ongoing Partnership

Eurovision Village was seen by millions of users across the globe. Due to the way it was set up, the hosting solution (Azure & Cloudflare) handled it with ease. When the event manager needed content to update, they did that live with one click of a button. The project was featured on the Netherlands' national news NOS.
The Lovie Awards:

  • Best virtual audience integration
  • Experimental & Innovation Awwwards

The Anthem Awards
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Together with DEPT® we look back on a positive collaboration and continued on to create new projects like Inter x Nike

More projects

_ Inter Milan x Nike with DEPT®