The renovation of David Geffen Hall, home to the New York Philharmonic, provided Lincoln Center with an opportunity towards fulfilling their goal of welcoming audiences, both new and existing, to the cultural campus. Re-imagining the music hall as more than “just” a venue for performances, Lincoln Center sought to create an inclusive cultural space that could engage visitors beyond the confines of a traditional concert experience. AV&C envisioned a suite of expressive digital layers to support the daily experiential programming of the public areas and to expand how visitors contextualize their interactions with the space and offerings - a dynamic solution that extended beyond the limitations of conventional digital signage.
In deep collaboration with a world class project team, AV&C designed and implemented 22 digital elements that support placemaking, engagement, curatorial and informational aims. Each of the touchpoints can work together as a unified collection or break out into functionally specific roles within the renovated Karen and Richard LeFrak Lobby, and new spaces including the Welcome Center, Kenneth C. Griffin Sidewalk Studio, and Music Box. Interactive screens throughout the lobby tiers allow patrons to explore the Philharmonic, its musicians and conductors.
The system’s power derives from AV&C’s custom content creation engine and machine-assisted creative tools which empower storytellers from Lincoln Center’s various constituent organizations to express themselves effortlessly across the diverse set of canvases - live streaming performances and rehearsals, showcasing commissioned artists, presenting archival exhibits, displaying generative ambient modes, and delivering informational messaging about current and upcoming events.
To address the content programming complexity of this project, AV&C employed our “Deep Media” approach, leveraging software's immense potential to streamline operational complexities, alleviate mundane tasks, and provide tools to enhance creativity. Software also manages competing priorities for screen time, computationally solving a massive scheduling puzzle that accommodates upcoming performances, cultural calendar, and scheduled canvas takeovers.
These content creation workflows allow non-design and non-technical personnel to compose and publish while maintaining a unified visual language, automatically reflowing their content across a display ecosystem of different shapes and sizes.
Between scheduled moments, generative artistic modes sweep across all canvases, weaving together and providing a seamless transition between daily content programming and the various ways in which the public spaces are being used. Inspired by the hall's architectural and interior design, the modes add breath and give voice to the building itself, with the motion of the generative patterns responding to visitors’ movement, and the changeable color schemes and pacing creating a tunable ambiance within the spaces.
