McDermott Will & Emery

At McDermott Will & Emery’s New York offices, the view from the 67th floor is already pretty impressive. So when they installed a series of LED screens around a feature staircase at One Vanderbilt, the goal wasn’t to compete with the skyline. It was to create something that added to the experience of the space without overwhelming it.

abstract digital art on LED screen at new york city office

Three displays wrap around the staircase connecting the 67th and 68th floors. 5280×2700 on the left, 6240×2700 on the right, and a 6144×3240 display facing you when you reach the landing above. All three displays have an impressive 1.2mm pixel pitch, allowing for ultra-fine detail and seamless motion even when viewed up close. Instead of treating them as individual screens, we designed the content for these screens as continuous pieces.

3d digital art on two LED screens at new york city office

The visuals suggest a stylized extension of the real-world architecture. Each screen opens into a dimensional space filled with clean linework and rich color. Soft spheres rise into the left screen, glide through to the right, and finally collect in the screen above the staircase. They pause for a moment as they collect, almost as if taking a breath, before continuing upward and out of frame.

The illusion relies on forced perspective. We placed the vanishing points to match the eye level of someone standing in front of each screen. It’s subtle, but that depth is deeply engaging. You’re not just looking at screens. You’re looking into them. And if someone pauses midstep to look within, even better. That’s exactly the kind of engagement we aim for.

3d animation of birds flying over the ocean with an island in the background

A little further away on the same floor lies another screen. This one is wide – really wide. At 15552×3240 resolution, it’s more like a digital wall than a display. For this screen, we built something more serene – a view of the ocean framed by three foreground windows. A sailboat drifts through the midground while an island rests behind it in the background. At one point, a flock of seagulls flies through. One of the gulls breaks the plane of the window and flies over the foreground frame. It’s a small moment, but it gives the whole scene an expanded sense of depth. It feels like the seagull has escaped the scene and flies freely through the McDermott Will & Emery office.

We don’t approach a project like this with a formula. Every choice, from motion speed to color temperature, was made to support the design of the space. The content is meant to feel alive, but not distractingly loud. Present, not pushy. Calming and energizing.

What McDermott built with this install is more than a set of displays. It’s a living part of their office. When content, architecture, and movement align, the screens fade… and the story begins.

McDermott Will & Emery

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