Ahmedabad:

The technology has been provided by Imax Corporation, which is headquartered jointly in New York and Toronto. Imax is one of the world's leading entertainment technology companies, with particular emphasis on film and digital-imaging technologies, including 3D, postproduction and digital projection.

Imax is a fully-integrated, out-of-home entertainment enterprise with activities ranging from the design, leasing, marketing, maintenance, and operation of Imax theatre systems to film development, production, postproduction and distribution of large-format films. Imax also designs and manufactures cameras, projectors and commits significant funding to ongoing research and development. The Imax Theatre Network currently consists of more than 225 Imax-affiliated theatres in 30 countries.

The Gujarat Science City has been envisaged as a base for advancing creative scholarship and research that would benefit all generations - present and future. Besides boosting the local industry, it is also expected to provide a link between science, industry and the masses at large. Apart from the IMAX Theatre, the Science City will have India's largest LED day-night viewing screen, a 30-seat simulator, a large musical fountain, earth station, cafeteria, energy park and a well-developed landscape area.

The large format films to be shown in the Gujarat Science City Imax theatre are designed to educate and enlighten as much as they are to entertain. Says Imax Corporation vice-president (sales, South East Asia) Jim Patterson: ''Imax technology combines the largest film frame in motion picture history, superb sound and the award-winning rolling loop projection system to provide the viewer with an unparalleled giant screen film experience.''

Incorporating a film frame more than 10 times the size of the conventional 35-mm film, the 15/70-format image is projected on to a giant screen, which is as high as an eight-storied building. The technology and the design of the theatre combine to allow each person in the audience the sense of being totally involved in the film. The experience is magnified by the use of a six-channel, multi-way sound system.

Imax films are shot and projected on 15-perforation/70mm film - the largest film format in existence. Spread over an area of 2.14 hectares of land, the Imax 3D theatre is the first public facility of the Gujarat Science City Project that is being developed. The major components of the theatre are 651 seats for 2D films and 557 seats for 3D Films.

In addition to the Imax Theatre, there is a provision for 3D virtual reality projections, video games, and cyber café and exhibition space. During normal functioning, the Imax can house about 1,000 persons into the various parts of the complex and another 300 to 500 persons outside.

A variety of lotus and water lilies are being grown in the ponds on the Lotus Plaza, along with fish, algae and other organisms to complete a fully self-sustainable micro world representing the biodiversity and ecological sustainability. The waters of the Lotus Plaza are an important element here as a service that is both necessary and beautiful. They are used as heat exchangers for the air-conditioning and the mist generated by the process is designed to provide natural cooling.

''The Gujarat Science City is expected to become a national tourist attraction. It is an altogether different experience, and the Imax theatre adds to the entertainment value,'' says renowned architect Balakrishna V Doshi, who designed the project.

So, now it's time for some excitement.