Northern Virginia has elevated itself into one of the most affluent areas of the U.S. As Washington, D.C.’s metro area has grown well beyond its borders, communities from Alexandria south to Charlottesville have become enclaves for high-level government officials and the private-sector professionals who frequently partner with them. As such, the area boasts posh retail developments with tony stores and amenities.
Tyson’s Galleria, in Tyson’s Corner, VA, which maintains a Ritz-Carlton Hotel on its property, as well as such upscale vendors as electronics purveyor Bang & Olufsen, men’s clothier Hugo Boss and accessory meccas Gucci and Coach, provides a textbook example of the region’s demographics.
As such, Tyson’s Galleria’s environmental graphics must meet the expectations of its refined clientele.
General Growth Properties, one of the largest mall-property owners in the U.S., enlisted Ad Vice Studios LLC (Mechanicsville, VA) to fabricate a signature,12 x 50-ft. electronic display center. Chris Bauer, an environmental-graphic designer for Baltimore-based ci-design, developed the original concept, and Ad Vice completed the project’s development using Daktronics’ proprietary software.
The display wraps around an elevator shaft; the facility’s building code prohibits making any attachments to elevator components. To work around these regulations, Ad Vice affixed 113 aluminum plates via standoffs to second- and third-story walkway supports. All installation had to be done outside the display to avoid encroaching on the elevator shaft, Ad Vice’s David Goodwin said. Ad Vice decorated the structure with Lexan® polycarbonate panels backlit with SloanLED white modules. The display’s focal point entails a convex, 6mm-pixel, 17 x 13-ft. Daktronics DVN LED messageboard. Numerous speakers around the tower’s vicinity provide a dynamic audio component.
“An extremely aggressive installation schedule required that the entire structure, including the LED board, be fabricated and assembled at the shop,” he said. “Then, the pieces were labeled in order, transported to the jobsite, and reassembled in that order at night.”
To install the components, Ad Vice implemented three, 60-ft.-reach JLG lifts that were sheathed with “socks” for interior installation and paired with a custom winch.