HFP Acoustical Consultants Helps HOK Visual Communications Bring Imagination To Life With NanoLumens Display "Sculpture"

The February 2013 installation of a one-of-a-kind 5.5-foot tall by 13-foot wide NanoLumens®-powered digital sculpture at a Fortune 500 company’s headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana was the direct result of an intense collaboration between a client receptive to new ideas, a graphic design firm with a big technological vision, a technology consultant with the smarts to execute that vision, and a manufacturer with the technology to provide design-specific digital displays for literally any environment. 

What’s more, according to Bill Schuermann, Senior Associate Design Consultant at Houston, Texas-based HFP Acoustical Consultants, it’s a collaboration that is likely to grow and expand as visual displays become an increasingly important part of large scale commercial design projects.  “We are standing on the threshold of an entirely new era of interior design,” Schuermann reflected today, “and visual displays are at the center of these designs.  This era is being made practical by a new generation of technology from NanoLumens that makes it possible to design and deploy specific display solutions of any shape, size, or curvature, in virtually every type of environment.  Before today, technology didn’t allow you to think in terms of sculpted digital display letters, but now that technology is here, thanks to NanoLumens.”

The concept for the NanoLumens digital sculpture came from Hal Kantner at Houston-based HOK Visual Communications, who envisioned a unique display landscape that would allow the client to tell their story in brilliant video across the lifesized letters U-S-A. HOK’s team of designers then turned to HFP Acoustical Consultants to create the technical specifications and installation design, at which point it was determined that NanoLumens was the only manufacturer who could build this display and make the vision a reality.

Increasingly, innovative digital signage projects require the marriage of an architectural design firm, a technology design firm and a display manufacturer that can build displays to the unique specifications of a never-seen-before design, no matter the size or shape. With this type of project becoming more common, HFP is in the midst of transitioning the services it provides from pure AV, architectural acoustics, and industrial acoustic design to include all things technology.

“Working directly with HOK Visual Communications has allowed us to create some amazing graphic designs that include, and are often centered around, modern technology,” Schuermann said. “When HOK was developing the U-S-A design for this project, they asked themselves what they could do that hasn’t already been done. The result is this sculpture that isn’t so much a digital signage display as it is a piece of modern art that is fluid, patriotic and futuristic all at the same time. This project is proof that with NanoLumens, if you can imagine it, they can build it.

“We’re always looking for new ways to express our creativity and excite our clients,” Schuermann continued, “and projects like this one are becoming highly desired because digital displays can finally capture the imagination and be used to create truly unique, awe-inspiring environments. At HFP we are beginning to see more and more uses for novel technologies in both public spaces and corporate environments. Making a lasting impression with a digital sculpture, or a visual palette that can exhibit an ever-changing video presentation, comes down to combining the right design with the right engineers and the right technology. With this project we’ve busted open the doors for digital signage to become an entirely new and different product, and with our mindset for design combined with NanoLumens manufacturing abilities, the possibilities are endless.”

Since 2009, HFP Acoustical Consultants has been working closely with HOK Visual Communications to bring dozens of HOK’s designs to life. As for the future, HFP Acoustical Consultants is looking at a new project in Saudi Arabia that will have 650 digital signage displays connected to a single network!

About NanoLumens:

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, NanoLumens, Inc. (www.nanolumens.com) is a privately held corporation engaged in the research, product development, marketing and sales of unique flexible and fixed large-format LED display solutions in any size, shape, or curvature, that address a yawning technology gap in the $14 billion digital display industry.  Since its founding in 2006, NanoLumens has built a portfolio of more than 20 international families of issued and filed patents on its flexible display technology that effectively address the commercial market void between relatively small flat-panel displays and huge, limited application LED boards. NanoLumens technology is not constrained by standard sizes and shapes, or by the weight, heat, noise and cost issues traditionally associated with commercial LED products.