Featured Project: Head-Turning LED Installation

To create a head-turning viewing experience at Assembly Row in Somerville, Massachusetts, Daktronics, Street-Works Studio, and Design Communications Limited (DCL) collaborated on a six-story tall, head-shaped LED art installation titled, “The Conversation.” According to Daktronics, the digital art canvas captivates viewers and promotes meaningful conversation and exchange between everyday people.

“Considering the density of artists living in the Somerville area, the goal was to develop a unique media canvas for regional artists to engage their community and present ideas that can evolve with time,” says Jeff Grantz, director of creative technologies from DCL.

The 25mm LED displays form three heads — one facing right, one facing forward, and one facing left. Local and regional artists use these canvases with slow-moving, vivid content that is enhanced with the unique shape of the LED displays.

“The collaboration with the team at DCL and Street-Works began as a notepad concept sketch that came to life over many months of planning and coordination in the form of a larger-than-life creative digital experience,” remarks Jeff Everson, Daktronics technology strategist. “We worked cohesively through several design iterations and took full advantage of our flexibility and collective engineering knowledge to pull off this unique digital canvas.”

The three 47′ tall freeform LED displays are 80% transparent, allowing air to freely flow through the parking structure. Each head consists of more than 500 stick elements, ranging from one meter up to four meters in length, and they are energized by remotely mounted power supplies to maximize transparency on the display and provide easy service access to the system.

Daktronics coordinated with DCL’s management team throughout the project to ensure an efficient installation process that minimized the time required for craning and mounting large pre-assembled sections of heads into place.

“’The Conversation’ continues to build on Federal’s commitment to public art through Assembly Row while taking that effort to another level of visibility and permanence,” says David Middleton, general manager for Federal Realty at Assembly Row. “We are grateful to the whole team that came together not only with an impactful digital canvas but also a comprehensive plan to ensure it will continue to make a statement and support the community for years to come.”

Creative content for the project was selected and curated by Somerville design studio StudioHHH, and ILLUMINUS.