NEW YORK, Oct. 10 NY-Tim-Hunter-Design
NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Getting attention in Atlantic City is an economic imperative requiring approaches that literally trump the adage of "bigger is better". For Harrah's Resort and Casino, the answer was to create the world's largest Outdoor Video Display by covering their Waterfront Tower (the tallest hotel tower in Atlantic City) in linear LED fixtures and then look to Tim Hunter Design to provide the dramatic impact through their well-crafted media content. Leveraging their acclaimed talent in experiential design and their in-depth knowledge of content delivery technology, THD provided Harrah's with the holistic solution that has made this property the 'Star of the Waterfront'.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/timhunterdesign/35095/
When the ownership of Harrah's Resort in Atlantic City came up with their vision for their 56-story Waterfront Tower, the goal was to create a sophisticated destination hotel, casino and resort that stood apart from its neighbors. The decision was made to cover the resort's Waterfront Tower, the tallest structure in Atlantic City, with a horizontal array of LED lighting that could be seen across the skyline. Calling upon a team from Philips/Color Kinetics, Inc. and Production Resource Group LLC, a series of LED fixtures were installed across the four facades of the building measuring approximately 33,000 linear feet. On a square footage basis this installation is now the largest exterior LED display surface in the world.
But creating this brand "beacon" was really only the first step. The real challenge was how to take full advantage of this tremendous asset. Someone was needed who could see the whole picture: understand the technology, study the impact and manipulation of the light source, develop an aesthetic that could transcend the constraints of the installation and continually evaluate these elements against the need for sustainable operations. Based on their experience and talent, the Tim Hunter Design team was assigned the job of designing and specifying the control system and producing the digital content. "We knew that the message had to fit the medium," said Tim Hunter, CEO of THD. "We understood the building, and the resources and created a new language, through real examples, to inform and educate the process."
Hunter is the Founder and CEO of Tim Hunter Design, LLC, a 20-person studio in New York City. He also teaches and serves as the Associate Head of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. What defines Tim Hunter Design is their holistic approach to design and experiential media that considers the technology and the execution when formulating long-term solutions for developers. Their goal is to bring their client's vision to fruition by testing that vision under real limitations. In understanding how design functions within the real operations of the systems, THD can drive their energies to create a higher level of impact for their content that will result in a more visceral and emotional connection to the imagery.
The building design located the LED fixtures 10' apart vertically and 1.2" apart horizontally resulting in a challenging format for content creation and further complicated by the added impact of the atmosphere, timing, the scale and how the brain would read the image in this composition. The THD team needed a cost-effective, stable content management system that would enable the display of synchronous, motion-based content that could be read the same across a range of distances. The task was extraordinary and the THD team ended up creating thirty different 3-D digital models that revealed how the media would play synchronously across all four facades of this unique scale. The THD design engineers specified a control system that not only met these requirements but also brought the capital costs for the operating equipment down to one tenth of the original estimate. They leveraged their understanding of the physiology of vision -- the unique spatial relationships between image and brain recognition functions -- to create media content that could be understood as a seamless stream of emotion and evocative imagery across this broken surface. Incredibly, they demonstrated all of this to the client without the benefit of a completed structure.
Tim Hunter admits the most stressful aspect of the project was aligning the reality of the installation with the expectations of the client. But the final test came when the switch was thrown on July 3rd, 2008 and the system was turned on for the first time. "You could hear them gasp," said Vern McKinney, THD's senior project manager. "Tough construction crews stopped in their tracks and started cheering. I can honestly say these were the happiest clients we have ever had."
About Tim Hunter Design
Tim Hunter Design is an experiential design firm based in New York City whose work centers primarily on the design of media-based experiential structures within architectural or public spaces. The goal of THD is to seamlessly incorporate digital imaging systems, digital media, audio and specialty lighting into compelling structures to create a unique, memorable and easily updateable guest experience.
www.timhunterdesign.com
SOURCE Tim Hunter Design
