Projects: New Tech Center Makes Big Visual Statement With LED Columns

September 3, 2015 by Dave Haynes

This is the new Technology Center of Excellence that connectivity and IT services firm CenturyLink has opened in Monroe, Louisiana – with 37,000 square feet of nanotechnology glass that tints automatically and three big NanoLumens wrap-around displays inside.

Opened earlier this year, the building alone makes a pretty big statement, but the company wanted to amplify that with the visual statement of three support columns wrapped with 5 mm pixel pitch LEDs.

“The NanoLumens displays create a stunning effect in the lobby, and it’s fair to say that this sets the lobby apart from any other atrium like it,” says Ben Cating, Senior Consultant-VP of Idibri, the Texas consulting firm hired by CenturyLink. “It’s more than just a video installation — it’s a visual achievement.”

The three columns in the building’s three-story-tall atrium are wrapped in a 42-inch-diameter circular panel that covers 12 feet of vertical surface on each column. Each display can show different video content, or all three columns can play synchronously, with content fed over IPTV via fiber from a cloud-based Cisco-AppSpace content delivery system.

The NanoWraps (the product name) are attached to the columns by a unique circular mounting system, incorporating a custom metal frame around the column in which the panels are attached. This system was carried out by AV systems integrator American AVL, based in Ruston, LA.

“CenturyLink wanted to make this lobby a unique technological experience for visitors and guests,” explains Cating. “We looked at a lot of possibilities, and video would keep the columns as an integral part of the aesthetic design. But attaching conventional flat displays to them would have ruined the flow they create visually. Only the flexibility of the NanoWraps, which we could literally wrap around the columns, offered us the solution that we needed. NanoWraps were the only way we could address this particular form factor. The result is striking to look at.”