EA Need For Speed Lobby installation

We were asked by Electronic Arts to design an entrance lobby installation for the ‘Need For Speed’ design studios in downtown Vancouver.
Immediately we felt that the team working on Need For Speed should feel like they are working at an automotive design  lab. We researched various automotive design houses such as Pininfarina, Bretone, Aston Martin, and BMW. We were immediately struck by the Zaha Hadid designed BMW plant, and endeavored to remix the forms of that site into screens and media for our installation.

A key component to the installation will be the digital content presented on the screens and around the entire entrance lobby and adjacent hallway. The intention is to create content inspired by the aesthetic aspects of automotive design and production, cinematics of driving, streetscapes, and abstract macro shots of machinery. Additionally, real-time generative graphics will play a large role in the operation of the installation. These generative graphics, along with NFS staff submitted ‘work in progress’ will  help keep  the installation “fresh.”

In the elevator lobby, stylized panels will zigzag across the space catching imagery from projectors mounted in two opposite corners of the room. These projectors will project an array of loosely car related imagery and iconography: gauges, wind-tunnel testing, street views mixed with data and graphics.  LED lighting will change colour to match the projected media.

LCD screens in the elevator lobby area will serve as graphic cornerstones to the installation, by featuring more recognizable versions of the imagery ‘fractured’ throughout the room. They will also provide a way for information to be relayed to staff as they enter and exit the floor. RFID card readers will allow the installation to ‘know’ who is entering and to display the appropriate information to that individual. That information could be fun and interactive such as displaying a unique avatar or changing the lighting to a specific colour, or informative, such as a reminder of an important staff meeting

Additional sensing and proximity reading hardware help to animate the graphics and lighting, by providing various levels of interaction with people passing through the space. For instance, if someone were to rush by the entrance to the long hallway you could hear the screeching of tires

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 10:54 am and is filed under Current Proposals, Media Installation, Proposals and tagged with integrated media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.