Emory University School Of Medicine: Science on Display

Science on Display

In Atlanta, Emory University’s new Health Sciences Research Building II (HSRBII) is a state-of-the-art facility that brings together research scientists across multiple specialties to address today’s most demanding human health challenges. Designed by global architecture firm HOK, the eight-story, 350,000-squarefoot building incorporates advanced laboratories, a large central atrium and sustainable designs for conserving water and using less energy.

HSRB-II also features public areas and meeting spaces that are intentionally designed to engage visitors and foster interaction and connections among 130 principal investigators and over 1,000 scientists in pediatrics, biomedical engineering, cancer research, cardiovascular medicine, brain health and other disciplines. To reinforce this purpose, HOK retained experiential design firm ZEBRADOG to cultivate the facility’s spaces and create several digital media installations. Using display technology from Planar, ZEBRADOG designed four experiential programs to inspire communication, innovation and creativity.

“We decided to take AV beyond its traditional role of Zoom meetings and presentations, and deliver a ‘wow factor’ to the building,” said Melissa Thackery, program manager at Emory University. “The purpose of the display installations is to promote collaboration among the building’s scientific community. When researchers from different disciplines can come together, breakthrough ideas can emerge.”

Chris Moore, vice president and new media director at ZEBRADOG, said Planar’s diverse array of display options allowed them to design what they wanted without compromising on the choice of technology. “I don’t think of them as displays, but as digital windows into the amazing research and work taking place in the building that is affecting all of us on a global level every day.”

The Wonder Wall

Scaling 28 feet high and 44 feet wide, the Wonder Wall is a mosaic display at one of the main entry points to the building that allows Emory to showcase the life-changing impacts of its work. Composed of Planar® CarbonLight™ CLI Series LED video walls in various configurations and 1.9mm pixel pitches, the installation provides a captivating digital landscape for featuring stories, research projects and scientific discoveries—bringing Emory’s mission to life.

“The Wonder Wall is science on display,” said HOK Associate Architect Alex Hassell. “It features Emory’s achievements and really promotes the university as an institution for research.”

The Wonder Wall acts as a beacon for the building, according to Moore. “It reinforces the purpose of the facility. The content is large-scale and it’s meant to be impactful. Some of the stories pull on your heartstrings and are intended to re-inspire the people coming into work every day.”

The Spine

The Spine is a series of digital art installations located at the elevator lobbies on the first through the sixth floors that feature generative video artwork created from scientific data. Each display array consists of a custom, 6.5-foot-long by nearly 10-foot-high (4x6) Planar CarbonLight CLI Series LED video wall with a 1.9mm pixel pitch that wraps a 90-degree corner. Using data from research studies conducted in the building, signature-designed software renders it into dynamic art pieces. The objective is to inspire creativity and new thought patterns among Emory’s researchers.

The Nexus

Strategically placed in the building’s atrium, The Nexus is an engaging digital experience featuring curated content and composed of a nearly 12-foot-wide, 7-foot-high Planar® TVF Complete™ 164-inch LED video wall with a 1.8mm pixel pitch. The display celebrates scientific breakthroughs at Emory and presents key questions within the health sciences field.

“The Nexus is really a social communication platform that helps fulfill part of the mission of the new facility to bring researchers together,” Moore said. “The goal was to create an intranet of sorts around big questions that researchers are facing and allow them a safe and open means to have conversations around them.” 

Info Cores

Integrated on every floor of HSRB-II are the Info Cores, which reimagine the traditional poster presentation into an interactive digital experience. On each floor, two 86-inch Planar commercial LCD touch screens allow researchers to share their findings with Emory’s scientific community-fostering interest, curiosity, ideas and conversation.

“The Info Cores work like a portal for exploring the different research projects occurring in the building,” Moore said. “Researchers tend to be extremely focused on their projects and otherwise might not be aware of the research taking place in the labs around them. The idea is to create opportunities that might spark inspiration within their work.”

Extending HSRB-II’s Designs to HSRB-I Immediately adjacent to the new HSRB-II is the existing 190,000-square-foot HSRB-I building. As part of the construction of HSRB-II, a skybridge was built architecturally connecting the two facilities. But wanting to go beyond that, Emory decided to add many of the same experiential elements from HSRB-II to spaces in HSRB-I. As a result, three new display technology integrations were built in the HSRB-I building. These include:

• Wonder Wall. A custom installation was designed on the first level of the building consisting of Planar CarbonLight CLI Series LED video wall displays with 1.9mm pixel pitches, forming 4 columns.

• Spine. A custom, 6.5-foot-long by nearly 10-foot-high (4x6) Planar CarbonLight CLI Series LED video wall with a 1.9mm pixel pitch, wrapping a 90-degree corner, was installed on floors two through four.

• Nexus. A 10-foot-wide by 6-foot-high Planar® TVF Complete™ 137-inch LED video wall with a 1.89mm pixel pitch was installed in the Rollins auditorium lobby. 

A Model for Success

Mirroring the collaborative vision for the HSRB-II interior spaces, the success of the project was largely driven by the cohesive efforts of the design team. “The spirit of the project was truly a collaboration,” Moore said. “It started from HOK, which brought intention in terms of the purpose for these wonderfully designed spaces, which allowed the team to visualize, explore and execute on opportunities to further enhance them.”

A cooperative mentality also helped drive the technology selection process. “The project was designed to allow lots of natural light throughout the interior, which creates challenges for display technology,” said TSAV Design Consultant Jim Hildreth. “Working with Planar’s engineers and HOK’s interior design team, we were able to select the right products for the right spaces. We did six months of content testing at Planar’s Atlanta Showroom prior to hanging a single video wall, which allowed us to determine how the products would function at the highest level. The combination of all that pre-planning led to an integration that hit every mark.”