The new Hotel 42 located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has an industrial-rustic vibe throughout the property with a stunning lobby space. The lobby boasts a 32-foot wide by 10-foot high fine-pitch, direct-view LED wall that can be seen from the bustling Brooklyn street outside thanks to an all-glass front entrance. The location and size of the video wall provides an immersive experience for hotel guests and can also be seen by pedestrians. The hotel owners wanted a mix of experiential 3D content that would provide the WOW-factor for guests in the lobby and also captivate exterior patrons as they walk past the display.
Knowing this, we presented the hotel owners with a mix of high impact 3D content concepts with the goal of creating a dual purpose immersive experience that left the viewer with anticipatory captivation, wondering what was coming next. The owners also wanted the inspiration behind the concepts to be unique environments, including biophilic designs that at times incorporated the brand. It was important to the owners to bring more nature into the city environment.
For the first phase, our team created several pieces including a pixel mapped CG-animated waterfall with liquid interaction on the client’s logo and the structural cutouts of both doorways; a stunning underwater scene with mystical jellyfish swimming freely in the depths of the ocean; a 3D Forced Perspective Zen Garden that includes a water feature, insects, varied plant life, and a wood beam ceiling allowing us to simulate natural sunlight and further simulate bringing nature inside; and last but not least, we created deep screen simulated staircases with branded dodecahedrons, or 12-sided three dimensional shapes, tumbling down the stairs where they collect at the bottom of the staircase, wait for a moment of anticipation, and then release at the viewer and tumble out of view.