Formed in 1967, Autex Industries have a long history of innovation and outstanding customer service in textiles and advanced fibre technology. Autex continues to break barriers and lead the way when it comes to creating bespoke acoustic solutions for projects large or small.

The team at Autex enjoys a challenge; whether it's a custom cut theatre wall or a full scale suspended acoustic artwork.

A recent high-profile project Autex was involved in was DreamWorks Animation the Exhibition. Autex worked in collaboration with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (AMCI) and DreamWorks Animation to create the Dragon Flight Theatre. The popular 180º simulator theatre wraps around its audience taking them on a thrilling dragon back flight experience, and is one of the main highlights of DreamWorks Animation the Exhibition.

A bespoke acoustic solution was required to provide acoustic balance, reduce sound spill and bring an element of Toothless the dragon into the space to keep visitors interested and excited as they come in and out of the theatre. Autex Design Engineers Jonathan Mountfort and Luke Walker used the room dimensions and materials specified in the plans to create a mathematical model of the reverberation time in the space. These measurements were used to control the reverberation to a level that is conducive to a theatre environment. Custom-made Dragon Scale 3D Tiles were created for the back wall and entrance of the theatre while Autex Quietspace Panel was applied to the ceiling space.

AMCI's Head of Exhibitions and Collections, Russell Briggs, was very impressed with the results commenting that, "The acoustic experience within the theatre was superior to the one we had here (Australia) and the experience of having the sound fill the room and not have the reverberation I thought created a superior viewing experience in the theatre, and if you combine that with the fact that Autex had gone the extra mile to create this really themed look and feel, it was a fantastic outcome for Te Papa as a result of that."

Hugely successful, the popular Dragon Flight Theatre hosted 135,107 visitors during the short four month period the exhibition ran for. Te Papa 3D Designer Rosanne Kwan enjoyed working with Autex, saying that "in the process of working with Autex I noticed quite a strong social and environmental responsibility there and it is something that will inspire me to work with Autex because I think that is something quite important and just comes through in the way that they work." For more information on this project view the video above.