Orlando’s Airport Switches On Impressive Digital Art Features In New Terminal C

November 4, 2022 by Dave Haynes

My love-hate relationship with Orlando and particularly its main airport is shifting increasingly to affection as that big, bustling venue starts to rival Singapore’s Changi for its use of digital displays and great creative.

I kind of dread flying in and out of Orlando because the planes tend to have a lot of people on them who rarely fly and don’t know what to do in the lounges, or how to get on and off flights. Plus I’m usually going to Orlando in June, when it is 90 F and 90% humidity. Endless fun.

However, the trip is almost worth it now to see the impressive work the airport has done in the last five years with existing and new terminals. It started with operational stuff, using a LOT of screens to help guide passengers through check-in and screening areas, as well as in post-security areas. Orlando is the airport with that horizontal ribbon of hundreds of displays behind check-in stations – the digital enabling the airport to easily change counter assignments for airlines that maybe only have a flight or two a day.

Now the airport has built a new terminal and put a big investment in large format displays, and more importantly, a whole creative content plan to make those screens worthwhile and steadily interesting.

Our German language content partner Invidis has a post up today about all the digital at the recently opened Terminal C. Interestingly, the creative was developed and executed by a Montreal firm completely unfamiliar to me. Gentilhomme Studio is a creative technology shop led by a CEO/Creative Director who was at Moment Factory for many years before going off on his own. Also from Montreal, Moment Factory is one of the top creative shops doing big digital in public spaces, and it has done work at numerous airports, most notably Changi. The CEO, Thibaut Duverneix, also has working ties to another famed Montreal firm, Cirque du Soleil.

In the case of the new Terminal C, there are three signature areas for digital:

• A Moment Vault made up of three curved LED walls that form a rough circle, and three more LED screens on the inside. The outside walls run floral video animations, while on the inside travellers see scenes that take them underwater, or to Mars. The set-up uses 3D motion  tracking to capture and show the silhouettes of up to 30 people (if they stand close enough to the wall);
• Windows On Orlando is a set of three big LED video walls in a row – roughly 10 meters high and 35 wide. The “digital windows” show 12K footage shot around the city, including its main themed attractions;
• A third installation – called a portal – will have 32 individual displays built in a helical shape. That lights up next year.

Gentilhomme (translates to Gentleman) says on Linkedin:

Gentilhomme transformed the terminal into a destination in and of itself by connecting travellers with Central Florida’s local culture and beauty through a series of jaw-dropping experiences. Key elements from the project:
– Massive multimedia architecture spanning hundreds of feet wide.
– Hours of original content spreading several massive multimedia features.
– Nearly 4,000 square feet of custom LED screens.
– A team of experts across aviation, sound design, wildlife, tourism, and technology (to name a few).
– Over 70 capsules made up of interactive, CGI, and live action content.
– Manatees, galaxies, botanical beauty, NASA, fantasy worlds, Disney, interactive visuals, and much more.
– A one-of-a-kind experience.

The company also has a dedicated online brief for the project, with lotsa photos and video …

Very impressive stuff! Love the virtual water feature with the wall carving animals and humans spitting water at each other.