We designed and engineered the interactive and generative media experience for WarnerMedia’s New York headquarters in Hudson Yards. The goal of the experience—6 touch points spread across 11 stories—was to present WM’s expansive content universe through innovative technology and visual design.
Associate Creative Director + Visitor Experience, UI Design & Motion
Hot Lines creates a look into WarnerMedia’s impact on popular culture through the lens of social media. The realtime exhibit tracks lines from shows and films as they are quoted on Twitter. Visitors can interact with a show to discover the most frequently quoted lines and watch video clips of these fan-favorite moments.
Custom Rare Volume software automates the analysis process by extracting the closed caption track from broadcast-ready media assets. Then the software scours Twitter and, assisted by Natural language processing (NLP) algorithms, identifies the most popular moments.
The coarse timing information provided by the closed caption track allows the software to trim the clip to the precise moment of the media. The software can also further refine the trimming timing using speech recognition assisted by a whitelisted dictionary derived from the quoted text.
Universe is realtime visualization that aggregates the company’s various social media feeds to present a holistic look at the latest activity around WarnerMedia.
The interactive visualization cycles through various WM properties via an expansive simulation of particles. Interacting with the particle allows visitors to deep-dive into social posts, related media, and other WM properties.
Prow Sculpture—Rare Volume designed an 11-story generative sculpture called Prow Sculpture. Set against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline, the sculpture is made of 258,000 individual LED pixels. Its concentric rings create a volumetric visual effect, providing a dimensionalized canvas across which WarnerMedia shows and films are algorithmically interpreted as animated art.
Docents can control the sculpture’s modes and source media through a digital interface located at both the top and bottom floors of the Prow. When idle, the interface displays information about content that is being showcased on the LED sculpture.
We designed a shared interface design language for all interactives. The interface is designed to spotlight media, with the ability to dynamically adapt to various asset types and aspect ratios. The system also features a search tool that allows visitors to drill into WarnerMedia's various subsidiaries.
ESI Design, X20 Media, Antfood, WarnerMedia
NYCxDESIGN Awards—2020 Finalist, Creative Office
2021 IESNYC Lumen Awards—Artistic Media Driven Installation
Rare Volume
designboom—A giant data-driven chandelier rises through 11 stories of WarnerMedia’s NYC Headquarters
abdz.do—WarnerMedia HQ Interactive Experiences
Sixteen:Nine—New WarnerMedia HQ In NYC Digitally Brands 27 Floors Of Workplace
Sixteen:Nine—65 Foot Programmable LED Light Sculpture
Communication Arts—WarnerMedia Installations
Stash Magazine—Rare Volume’s Interactive Light Sculpture Rises 11-Stories at WarnerMedia HQ