Hey Google, Where’s The Digital Signage In Your New Manhattan Offices?

July 30, 2024 by Dave Haynes

The Wall Street Journal has posted an interesting video – like other newspapers, WSJ can’t just be words and pix these days – about Google’s newest office space in New York City, a huge office built inside of and on top of a historic rail terminal building on the lower west side of Manhattan. It’s impressive, as you might expect, but the intriguing and slightly odd aspect of the new digs is the minimal video display bling.

I watched the lengthy video, expecting to see video walls and a lot of display tech. But if the video accurately captured much of Google’s St. Johns Terminal space, there is little to none of that. Even the meeting room booking signs are analog, and I don’t see anything suggesting tech is being used to manage things like hot desks and flex working arrangements.

I also don’t see much in the way of video collaboration, even though Google has something called Project Starline, which was being previewed at InfoComm in Vegas last month.

Other tech companies, and commercial property developers in general, have been building a lot of video walls and other tech into their spaces to attract tenants and help facilitate new ways of working, particularly in the wake (mostly) of COVID.

It’s neither good or bad that there is not more evidence of display technology, and the people interviewed in the video capably lay out what was done and why. Sustainability was a big part of the design thinking, so putting up displays that aren’t regarded as mission critical might have had a role. It is, without question, interesting to see how one of the world’s biggest tech companies approaches this aspect of tech in its own purpose-designed building.