Fen Court, a new 15-storey office and retail development in the City of London, has been equipped with a 180sqm LED screen housed in the ceiling of a passageway.
The project saw AV integrator Sysco team up with distributor PSCo to install an LED ceiling made up of 5mm pixel pitch Absen N5 displays, driven by tvONE’s CORIOmaster.
Entering the passageway, which links Fenchurch Street and Fenchurch Avenue, passers-by are greeted by an impressive art installation in the form of a huge LED screen suspended from the ceiling. Live content feeds from two Axis 4K resolution outdoor grade cameras mounted on the roof of the building. Feeds from the cameras and media player are then routed to the N5 LED displays.
The LED ceiling is driven by a tvONE C3-510 CORIOmaster mini videowall processor. Due to its design, the ceiling used LED displays of custom resolution: 2,680 x 840 at 30Hz.
“The client’s requirements for delivering live video, from the rooftop, as well as pre-made artistic media, meant we needed a simple solution that would run with little client intervention,” explained Graeme Bunyan, director of technology at Sysco. “tvONE’s CORIOmaster configures the output resolution and aspect ratio required for the LED display, scaling the content to ensure impeccable quality.”
Alan Greenfield, regional sales manager, UK, at tvONE commented: “We are excited to be working with a creative team delivering an unusual concept and creating a result that can only be described as breathtaking. This spectacular project fully exercised the flexibility and performance of CORIOmaster.”
Sysco was invited to generate designs that envisaged the client’s vision yet comply with structural constraints and building regulations. Following thorough research and investigation they presented the LED ceiling as the preferred option due to its high brightness, design flexibility and capacity to be suspended face down from a height of 9.5m.
The dialogue between London and Fen Court is complemented through a video piece by artists Vong Phaophanit and Claire Oboussier. Titled ‘The Call of Things’, London’s great parks and waterscapes are depicted through four tableaux each focusing on the intersection between seasons. The LED screen will present this artistic piece throughout the day, working on a continuous loop between the live media and the artistic content. Summing up the artistic ceiling, Tina Paillet of Generali Real Estate, concluded: “I think it’s gone beyond our expectations, simply because it has a wow factor that we were hoping for but we didn’t dare dream of.”
