Video: Barcelona Hospital Uses Data Visualization On Video Wall To Show Real-Time Pulse Of Facility Operations

Data visualization on big video walls can sometimes be a bit of a miss because the only people who are really going to understand the shape-shifting and swirling visuals are the people who designed the experience and the people who commissioned it, but here’s a case where context makes it work.

It’s a video wall just outside the operations command center for a medical center in Barcelona – Hospital Sant Joan de Deu – showing the real-time state of activity in the building or campus, with a subtle legend that at a glance lets those who need to know which areas and departments are busy.

The hospital commissioned the excellent local creative technology shop Instronic to come up with and deliver a solution that starts to inform operations people as they head down a hallway to the command center.

Our approach was to turn this transitional space into an immersive, data visualization installation—a living canvas where real-time hospital data unfolds as an artistic expression. Instead of displaying raw numbers, the installation captures the hospital’s pulse, translating its continuous activity into a fluid, ever-evolving experience.

The final result is a visualization that unfolds throughout the entire corridor leading to the Command Center. The journey begins with a floating cloud of fragmented data cubes, where information appears dispersed and abstract. As visitors move forward, the content gradually gains structure and coherence, leading them toward the largest display at the corridor’s end. Here, the complete data cube is revealed alongside its legend, offering a clear yet artistic representation of the hospital’s real-time activity—just at the threshold of the Cortex Command Center.

Here’s a video …

The visualization system, developed in Notch, generates real-time 3D animations based on live hospital data, dynamically updating as conditions change. By integrating external data sources, the representation evolves continuously, reflecting fluctuations in hospital occupancy. Using particle systems, deformations, and volumetric graphics, the system enables the creation of interactive hospital maps, animated capacity bars, and abstract visualizations that intuitively convey real-time activity.

Two things of note here:

1 – This wouldn’t necessarily work in a public area because the visuals would need more explanation. I’ve seen lots of projects that are super-cool to look at, but almost none of the audience would know what’s happening on the display is tied to real-time data. Little plaques off to the side of a screen don’t really do it;

2 – A lot of creative technology shops should take cues from how Instronic showcases its work. They invest the time in explaining the thinking and the showing the process used to get to a final outcome, instead of going on and on in writing about how pleased and delighted everyone is. (No one cares that you couldn’t be more excited/pleased/delighted/thrilled, etc)