NewBay Media’s AV Technology Magazine is delighted to introduce its 2015 "Out of the Box Award,” an inaugural award recognizing an AV project that sets a new standard of immersive, customized, interactive digital signage with specific benefits for tech managers and operations managers.
- The 2015 Out of the Box Award winner is the AV installation at the Viacom headquarters in New York City’s iconic Times Square, at 1515 Broadway, between 44th and 45th Streets. More than 300,000 pedestrians and another 115,000 people pass by the HQ via bus or car every single day. Viacom, the entertainment giant that owns, among others, the brands MTV, Comedy Central, Spike, and Paramount Pictures, wanted a true “wow factor” in their corporate lobby. The audiovisual design firm McCann Systems and architecture, planning, and design firm, Rockwell Group, were both instrumental in creating innovative digital applications for Viacom.
According to Margot Douaihy, editorial director of NewBay Media’s AV Technology, Eduwire, and Tech Manager Today, "The AV Technology Out of the Box Award was created to recognize original thinking, creativity, and design in a digital signage installation. But make no mistake, this is about way more than hardware or software—it’s about pushing the imaginative terrain. In 2015, the inaugural winner is the Viacom HQ install at 1515 Broadway in NYC. With dynamic and immersive elements, interactivity, sleek design, dazzling visuals, a smart infrastructure, and a live content management strategy would make any media company jealous, this AV project sets a new standard. The AV Technology team congratulates everyone involved in this project, and hopes it serves as a stellar example of innovation for the AV industry.”
Select AV Highlights of the Viacom hub at 1515 Broadway, NYC:
• 1515 Broadway comprises two mirror-image entrances: one on 44th Street, and one on 45th Street and Broadway that lead up to the second-floor lobby of Viacom. Passing through the turnstile, and after the security desk, employees and guests are greeted by two massive video walls on the outside of elevator bank walls, made up of 16, 55-inch, LG Super Narrow Bezel Video Wall panels set up in a 4 x 4, landscape configuration, creating a combined 16:9 aspect ratio.
• The White Box event space is 140 feet wide by 50 feet deep. Six, 4-foot-wide by 15.61-foot-tall LED Blades hang from a 190-foot, custom designed track, which runs along the 140-foot wall facing the entrance, and makes a 90-degree turn onto the 50-foot wall at the right of the room. Each Blade can be manually moved to any location along the track, and in any configuration; e.g., each spaced individually along the wall, two-by-two, one-by-two, or all six together creating a 16:9 aspect ratio.
• Two 12-foot-high by 24-foot-wide LED curtains are on the opposite 140-foot wall flanking the main entrance inside the White Box. These are intended to display graphic elements as “digital wallpaper,” and not detract from the content displayed on LED Blades.
All images of the Viacom headquarters are used with permission of Viacom International Inc. Images on displays are Copyright © Viacom International Inc.
• The LED Blades were designed, engineered, sourced, and assembled by McCann Systems.
Sue Horwitz, publisher of AV Technology, stated, “It is important to recognize the dynamic solutions tech managers, designers, architects, and installation teams create, beyond the hardware and software. Our goal is to inspire our peers and create interest in the field of AV for newcomers. Highlighting 'Out of the Box' projects like the Viacom HQ is one way to that."
MORE INFOMcCann Systems: www.mccannsystems.com
Rockwell Group: www.rockwellgroup.com
Read the profile of this award-winning install: http://www.avnetwork.com/av-technology/0002/way-outside-the-digital-signage-box/95274#sthash.i0SGjgHX.dpuf
