An Art Installation In Sochi Will Render Your Face On The Side Of A Building In 3D

If you've ever dreamed of having your face on the side of a building, an art installation planned for the Olympic Park in Sochi has got you covered.

"Megaface" is made up of 10,000 actuators that move around according to the shape they're imitating, extending up to 6.5 feet outwards. Visitors to Olympic Park can take photos of themselves in on-site 3D photo booths before having their faces rendered on the giant facade, which is basically a large-scale pinscreen.

Each face will measure nearly 500 square feet and be displayed for 20 seconds before morphing into a new one. The facade will be mounted on one of the buildings in a pavilion belonging to Russian telecommunications group Megafon.

"Megaface" was designed by London architect Asif Khan and developed by Swiss firm iart.

Here's a video of one of the small-scale tests of the installation. In the video, 1,000 actuators are tested - in the pavilion, it will be 10,000. If the testers' reactions are any indication, this will be pretty cool in real life.