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| While Tim Hunter Design wanted the digital media sculpture at 444 Madison Avenue to be eye catching during the daytime to both passersby on the street and visitors and tenants in the building's lobby, the company wanted the sculpture to be especially striking after dusk. |
NOMINEE: CB Richard Ellis at 444 Madison Avenue, New York City
NOMINATING COMPANY: Tim Hunter Design, New York City
INDUSTRY: Public Spaces
PROJECT: To create a digital media sculpture as a public art statement that brings recognition to the 444 Madison Avenue lobby as a landmark destination, in addition to enhancing the tenant/guest experience and providing a remarkable public work of art to the community.
OVERVIEW
Tim Hunter Design created a digital media sculpture for the lobby of 444 Madison Avenue, a recently renovated Class A commercial office building at the Northwest corner of Madison Avenue and 49th Street in New York City. The formal opening for this installation was in April 2009.
OBJECTIVES
The digital media sculpture was conceived to be a public art statement that brings recognition to the 444 Madison Avenue lobby as a landmark destination, in addition to enhancing the tenant/guest experience and providing a remarkable public work of art to the community.
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| Tim Hunter Design reports that people who are passing by tend to pause or walk more slowly and enjoy the images. The property manager even uses the digital media sculpture as a selling point with prospective tenants. |
In addition, the digital media sculpture was created to serve as a neighborhood icon, drawing pedestrians into the re-invigorated landmark building while giving tenants and their guests a visually enticing environment to call home.
While the creators wanted the sculpture to be eye-catching during daylight conditions, they wanted it to be especially striking after dusk.
CHALLENGES
The lobby of 444 Madison Avenue is not very deep and the soffit wall where the sculpture was located is relatively close to the glass curtain wall and even closer to the inside entrance of the lobby revolving doors. The media sculpture needed to work equally well for people walking around in the lobby space as well as for pedestrians on the sidewalk and passengers in vehicles on Madison Avenue.
Other challenges: The “all-in” budget was modest, the project timeline was short, and the construction site was obstructed by exterior scaffolding and screening during the installation.
SOLUTIONS
For both practical as well as aesthetic reasons, a densely populated video wall was not used. The cost would have exceeded the budget and the intensity of the high-resolution display would have overwhelmed visitors in the lobby.
The digital media sculpture consists of 10-foot vertical LED tubes (with a vertical resolution of 1.2 inches). The tubes are mounted to a carefully designed, aesthetically pleasing structural frame on 5-inch centers. The entire piece is 32 feet wide and 10 feet tall. The digital media sculpture is mounted above the security desk on a soffit wall and tilted forward so that it is angled toward observers on the ground. Additional LED lighting fixtures were used to light the wall surface behind the digital media sculpture, enhancing the effect of the sculpture “floating” in front of the soffit.
By creating a segmented display that allows the observer to see through the sculpture to the back wall, Tim Hunter Design was able to retain a light and airy feel. The lower resolution of the segmented display actually contributes to the abstract look and feel that was intended. The eye – in association with the brain – is able to receive and accept partial images and to “fill in the void spaces” to assemble a complete and aesthetically pleasing image. The client requested and Tim Hunter provided seasonal images that would change from fall to winter to spring then summer. In addition, abstract pieces were created that replicate the motion of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic outside the building. Also, interstitial pieces were created that provide visual interest. Finally, a simple “energy saving” piece was created for late night hours.
Higher resolution LED linear products were used to create the structure on which original media content is displayed. The products (including the structural frame) are attractive, visually interesting, cost-effective and environmentally friendly. The LEDs are long life (more than 50,000 hours), use little energy and require virtually no maintenance.
RESULTS
A visitor to 444 Madison is immediately struck by the pleasing use of motion and color to draw attention to the building and highlight its recent renovation. The motion of the images and the colors wash over the lobby space and create a very high level of visual interest. Some pieces are recognizable – falling leaves, snowflakes, sunlight reflecting on water while others are more abstract. The seasonal pieces are comfortable reminders of the specific time of year and the abstract pieces are moving in a manner that is reminiscent of and complimentary to the pedestrian and vehicular traffic outside the building.
Those people who are passing by tend to pause or walk more slowly and enjoy the images. People that are entering or exiting this lobby feel better about their presence in the building based on this visual feast. The property manager uses the digital media sculpture as a selling point with prospective tenants.