Digital Windows

Druckversion

Residents of The Hague, Netherlands, can now view community news, information, events and advertising on a giant LED Media Façade.
 

The display measures more than 19m wide x 14m high, and is situated approximately 80m above ground, in the façade of the “Strijkijzer” building. Designed and manufactured by Media Façade specialists VML-Technologies BV, the display, which can be viewed up to 2km away, gives the local people the opportunity to interact with it via social networking sites for such things as birthday greetings, including pictures and videos of the lucky person.
 

The installation consists of 1,716 Lattice LED strips which cover an area of 11 windows wide and 6 windows high. The display is technically unique in a number of ways, using custom manufactured LED strips which seamlessly integrate into the façade of the building, with no visible cables or equipment anywhere on the display. Even though the system is 70% transparent, so that the occupants of the building can still see outside, by day the display packs a powerful 6,000nits of brightness, ensuring a vivid image even on the brightest days. When turned to black overnight, it becomes virtually invisible.  The strips are controlled in such a way that the whole picture is ‘pasted’ across the grid of window frames and remains perfectly visible.
 
VML-Technologies worked closely with the owners of the building, the renowned Dutch housing trust Vestia, and also with the original architects of the building, AAArchitecten, in order to create a display which is not only functional, but also architecturally attractive. An example of this can be seen behind the display, where the power supply units are mounted on completely silent  “power trees” rather than being hidden away as is usually the case. The display uses only a relatively limited number of horizontal lines and uses remarkably low power.