Atlas at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International

Inside the world’s busiest airport by total passenger traffic, Atlas at ATL gives travelers a reason to stop, look up, and connect with the story of Atlanta.

Built around a 4.5m LED sphere, three curved supporting LED displays, and a flexible content system, the installation transforms a high-traffic airport space into a living digital landmark. The experience can move from a calm, ambient globe to high-energy signature moments, countdowns, and World Cup activations, all while keeping Atlanta at the center of the story.

The Living Globe

The foundation of the installation is a clean, slowly rotating globe experience designed to feel alive without overwhelming the space.

This baseline content gives travelers an immediate visual anchor while also creating a flexible starting point for future storytelling. After each animated transformation, the system can return to this calm globe state, keeping the experience cohesive and easy to build on over time. The globe reinforces the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as the center of international air travel.

Signature Moment: Gates to Goals

As excitement builds around the world’s biggest sporting event, Atlas transforms into a vibrant celebration of the city, its people, and its role as one of the world’s premier international gateways.

Beginning with a stylized soccer ball pattern wrapped around the globe, the experience unfolds through a series of bold visual transitions that reveal Atlanta’s iconic skyline, the energy of Hartsfield-Jackson’s aviation network, and the unmistakable spirit of the city. Aircraft soar across the display, geometric graphics pulse with movement, and the globe becomes a canvas celebrating Atlanta as the place where journeys begin and the world comes together.

Designed specifically for the globe’s unique three-dimensional form, the animation combines storytelling, three-dimensional motion graphics, and environmental transformation into a memorable signature moment that captures travelers’ attention while reinforcing Atlanta’s identity as both a global aviation hub and a host city for world-class soccer.

The experience uses travel, culture, sport, skyline imagery, and cinematic motion to connect Atlanta to the world and the world to Atlanta.

World Cup Transformations

For World Cup programming, the Globe becomes a flexible event platform that celebrates Atlanta as a global soccer destination.

These animations build on top of the Living Globe rather than starting from scratch. That approach keeps the visual system consistent while allowing the content to shift into a more energetic, event-driven mode for match days and fan-focused moments.

Supporting Displays

The three curved supporting LED displays help turn the Globe from a single object into a complete storytelling platform.

While the sphere creates the first impression, the supporting displays carry readable information, context, calls to action, and event-specific details. This is especially important for match information, countdown moments, and future interactive experiences.

Designing for a Sphere

A spherical LED display requires a specialized content process.

The Globe uses equirectangular content, which means visuals are created in a flat 2:1 format and then mapped onto the sphere. Critical elements cannot sit too close to the poles. Left and right edges must align perfectly. Content that looks stretched in the flat file needs to resolve correctly once displayed on the physical sphere.

That level of testing and projection-aware design is what makes the final experience feel seamless to the viewer.

Check Out Some Videos from The Globe at ATL Project Below

For a project like this, individual videos help show the range of the system. The Living Globe is not one piece of content. It is a full visual platform with ambient loops, signature moments, event activations, and supporting display content.

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Static Living Globe

The always-on baseline state for the installation. A stylized globe rotates slowly with subtle lighting polish, giving the atrium a calm, premium digital centerpiece.

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Signature Moment: Gates to Goals

A 30-second transformation that wraps the sphere in a stylized soccer ball before revealing a cinematic celebration of Atlanta as a global gateway. Dynamic flight paths, the iconic skyline, and bold graphic motion converge to showcase the city’s role as a world-class destination and host of the world’s biggest soccer sporting event.

The experience positions Atlanta at the heart of global travel, creating a memorable signature moment that captivates travelers and transforms the globe into an iconic airport landmark.

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Countdown Counter

Built specifically around the Atlas launch event, a standalone countdown experience that highlights Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and counts down from 10. With excitement building audiotrack included, this piece creates anticipation and gives the installation a strong event-ready moment for launches, celebrations, and future activations.

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Match Day Mode

A World Cup transformation that builds from the Living Globe into a match day experience.

A game-specific overlay appears with the corresponding teams, while the globe shifts from a daytime visual into a nighttime feel using lighting inspired by ATL’s Gates to Goals World Cup branding.

Project Specs

Client: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Experience: Large-scale digital sphere content system

Primary Display: 4.5m LED sphere display

Supporting Displays: Three curved supporting LED displays

Additional System Components: Integrated microphones, motion sensors, directional speakers

Sphere Format: Equirectangular

Sphere Resolution: 5192px x 2500px

Supporting Display Resolution: 516px x 1548px per curved display

Content Types: Living Globe, Signature Moment, Countdown Counter, World Cup Transformation content

Signature Moment Length: 30 seconds, loopable

World Cup Transformation Length: 15 to 30 seconds

Deliverable Formats Identified: PNG for images, MP4 for video

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