The iconic centrepiece at LAX is its Clock Tower. Part of the Integrated Environmental Media System (IEMS), this piece of high definition structural art is a 22m tall four-sided media LED screen built around the Great Hall’s lift tower.
Every traveller’s journey starts at the airport, and there are myriad ways in which technology is being used to transform the passenger experience by engaging, entertaining and informing. LED canvases are one innovative technology being embraced by airports to create a real sense of place, as Patrick Halliwell, Managing Director, Daktronics, explains to Marta Dimitrova.
Airports today are among the largest public stages, with the biggest hubs welcoming over 200,000 passengers every day. Each must, of course, combine functionality with the desire to be a pleasant place to dwell. LED displays, with their modularity and flexibility, are one way in which airports are transforming their spaces.
Indeed, this is an area Patrick Halliwell, Managing Director, Daktronics, will address at this year’s ACI EUROPE Airport Commercial & Retail Conference & Exhibition. Speaking to Airport Business ahead of his speech, he articulates the importance of “creating solutions that deliver a real sense of place at airports, leaving lasting impressions.” This is achieved, he says, “when the characteristics that make a space special and unique are combined with meaningful human experiences.”
Daktronics seeks to leave an indelible mark at airports, using LED technology to create centrepieces of the terminal. A prime example of this can be seen at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), but more on that later.
It is worth, first, explaining the potential scope for these LED canvases. Digital screens can be used for many purposes – displaying information, showing breath-taking landscapes as if they were a window, or carrying advertising. “If the content is right, the screen will seemingly disappear to the eyes,” Halliwell comments. “What is important is that LED screens can be moulded to adapt to any environment and there is no limit on the size they can take.”
Content that “will linger in travellers’ memories”
Today, airports work hard to grow their increasingly important non-aeronautical revenues. They are prime sites for digital advertising as a means to connect with travellers through engaging content. “What’s more, LED screens can open up the opportunity to use what before might have been a dead space,” Halliwell explains. “For instance, take lift shafts. These are big structures that sometimes dominate a multi-level open space. In China, the Wuxi shopping mall has taken advantage of this, and using a semi-transparent LED facade from Daktronics has turned a functional structure into digital eye candy.”
Connected travellers are in turn engaging with the technology, particularly when they share their photos of the LED screens on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
So, back to LAX. The Tom Bradley International Terminal has a dramatic 26m tall ‘Welcome Wall’ showing LA-themed messages as passengers transit between floors, and a ‘Bon Voyage Wall’ located between the departure bridge and the terminal’s Great Hall. This, says Halliwell, “will linger in travellers’ memories as they set off towards their destination.”
The iconic centrepiece at LAX is its Clock Tower. Part of the Integrated Environmental Media System (IEMS), this piece of high definition structural art is a 22m tall four-sided media LED screen built around the Great Hall’s lift tower. “Its content focuses on engaging passengers by giving the hall a new dimension,” Halliwell explains. “Then there are the essential flight information display screens (FIDS). Good FIDS need to be long-lasting, highly-legible, reliable and provide a consolidated listing of flights in congregating areas. The display combines FIDS information with video or scheduled advertising content. A nice addition on the LAX FIDS was using photos of the destinations.”
In Europe, Daktronics’ installations include a stylish FIDS display at Paris-CDG, while it has also installed giant rotating screens at London Gatwick’s North and South terminals. “The screens are both pole mounted and ceiling hanging, rotating at a gentle pace, slow enough to allow you to enjoy the images and video, but quick enough to avoid being a visual obstruction to the sightlines within the airport,” Halliwell notes.
Discerning travellers increasingly expect to be presented with dynamic and engaging environments that enhance their airport journey, and LED canvases are a flexible and powerful medium to assist airports in delivering a memorable traveller experience.
