Take A Deep Look At The Incredible Visual Experiences In Dallas’s AT&T Discovery District

July 22, 2021 by Dave Haynes

Several industry contacts have been telling me, going back months, about a very cool project in Dallas that they were part of … but didn’t have permission to officially promote.

That’s changed, and the formal word is out about a new-ish downtown Dallas destination venue that’s been dubbed the AT&T Discovery District. The four-block development is a bunch of things, among them a hub for all kinds of displays and experiential content.

The global design firm Gensler was commissioned to dream up and execute the project by AT&T, Montreal’s Moment Factory was engaged to come up with the experiential content plan, and SNA Displays won the deal to manufacture and put in some 12,000 sq. feet of LED displays, across more than a dozen different screen set-ups.

The displays are in three key locations around The District: The Plaza at AT&T Discovery District, the AT&T Experience Store, and the AT&T Headquarters Lobby.

Says PR from SNA: All displays are part of a digital network of seamlessly integrated media elements that enable immersive take-over moments of lighting, audio, and creative video content, made possible by an intricate content and platform management system engineered and implemented by Moment Factory.

This thing will be winning awards. Watch the video:

The Plaza has an open lawn for the community, water features, an iconic Golden Boy statue, twin media trellises with kinetic color-changing LED lighting and premium audio, and The Globe, a 3D LED light sculpture that represents the AT&T brand.

The focal point is The Media Wall, a massive 104-foot-tall 6.67mm pitch LED screen that Displays that wraps around the high-rise at the corner of Akard and Jackson streets. The 84-foot wide beast is just over the entrance to the AT&T Experience Store.

The AT&T Experience Store has two flat-screen LEDs and a floor-to-ceiling circular pillar. All three are 1.9mm.

The AT&T global HQ lobby is described as “a one-of-a-kind, floor-to-ceiling fusion of architecture, multimedia content, and technology.”

It has eight LED-wrapped rectangular columns and the Media Box, a large three-sided video wall that serves as the lobby’s focal point. The LED columns vary in height throughout the lobby and can be synchronized with the Media Box and the location’s expansive LED ceiling “veil,” a diffused lighting feature from the second story which visually connects each of the lobby’s digital elements with color.

They’re also 1.9mm pitch.

The PR adds:

The content featured in the lobby is one-of-a-kind and designed to create unique moments of immersion into the AT&T brand, accented by strategically placed audio that surprises and delights visitors and employees as they navigate their way through the space.

SNA Displays worked closely with Gensler throughout the AT&T Discovery District’s development. SNA Displays coordinated with YESCO and Barnett Signs to install the huge Media Wall.

Additionally, the Beck Group provided general contracting services and oversaw the installation of the AT&T Lobby and AT&T Experience Store’s LED displays.

A host of content creators have provided video and animation work for The District’s video display assets including Ari Weinkle, BOLT, Core Creative Labs, DixonBaxi, Float4, Maaambo, Moment, Factory, MUCH Creative, Reel FX Animation, Refik Anadol Studio, Sila Sveta, and Universal Everything.

Very hard not to be impressed. It’s what happens when the project is led by a design firm that understands technology and the huge importance of content.

AT&T, whatever Americans may think of the company as a wireless carrier and telecoms company, deserves a lot of credit for investing heavily in content and understanding the district is about experience, not selling services and plans. I don’t see any selling happening on these screens, and while that may make some AT&T sales and marketing execs twitchy, it’s the way to go, I think.

Here’s the project reel from Moment Factory, arguably the best experiential content company on the planet: