a giant data-driven chandelier rises through 11 stories of warnermedia’s NYC headquarters

algorithmic prow sculpture illuminates warnermedia hq

Rising through WarnerMedia’s Hudson Yards headquarters in New York, the giant Prow Sculpture installation offers a monumental immersive brand experience driven by data. Conceived by Rare Volume, ESI Design, and Parallel Development, the generative centrepiece chandelier spans the height of eleven floors, and comprises three concentric LED volumes with 352 rings which create a volumetric visual effect and provide a dynamic canvas.

Exuding the brand’s content throughout the space in a luminous, mesmerizing display, a custom developed algorithm pulls colors from WarnerMedia’s movies and TV shows and abstractedly animates them across 258,000 individual LED pixels in real time.

the Prow is made out of 3 consecutive LED rings | all images courtesy Rare Volume

a mesmerizing visualization of the brand

Set against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline, the cylindrical Prow sculpture anchors WarnerMedia’s entire brand and HQ experience with a vibrant art installation at its core. An algorithmic software custom developed by design studio Rare Volume analyzes selected video frames from TV shows, movies, and trailers, pulling out the most dominant and saturated hues to play back dynamic particle effects across the Prow’s concentric canvas in real time. The colors dance abstractedly in one of the Rings, Stream, and Fireflies modes. 

11-story generative Prow sculpture

The Prow’s two key modes, Visualization and Brand, can be changed in real time via two displays. While the Visualization mode projects WarnerMedia’s entertainment content, with Brand mode, the custom software decodes broadcast-ready media assets on the fly. It analyzes audio and visual content to extract the visual parameters which shape the Prow’s real-time-rendered generative system.

The sculpture is also integrated with a Prow Plaque, wherein 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.

docents control the sculpture’s modes and source media through a digital interface

the sculpture is made of 258,000 individual LED pixels

Fireflies mode

Streams mode

Rings mode

project info:

name: WarnerMedia Global HQ Prow Sculpture
designer: Rare Volume, ESI Design

engineering: Parallel Development 

client: WarnerMedia 

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edited by: ravail khan | designboom