One World Observatory
On the site of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in New York City, One
World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the
sixth tallest in the world. Construction began in April 2006 and the building
opened in November 2014. In May of the following year, the One World
Observatory opened, oering views of New York City’s iconic sights, surrounding
waters and skyline from the building’s 100th, 101st and 102nd oors.
The visitor journey at One World Observatory begins at the street-level entrance
and one level below in the Global Welcome Center, where guests are greeted
and invited to explore exhibits prior to taking elevators up to the three-story
observation deck. Near the beginning of 2019, Legends Hospitality—which
developed and operates the One World Observatory—determined that key
upgrades were necessary to improve the guest experience, leading to projects
that integrated display technologies.
LED Video Walls Enhance Customer Journey at One World Observatory
Product
Leyard TVF Series
Leyard VersaLight Series
Location
New York, NY
Industry
Hospitality
Application
Digital Signage
Waynding
Partners
Edge Experiential
Installation Prole
LED Welcome Wall greets visitors with ‘wow’ moment
Previously, the main driving attraction of the Global Welcome Center was a large projector system display that
was used to welcome visitors. Legends management felt that this system was underwhelming and fell short in
terms of quality standards and impact.
“The display appeared washed out and didn’t properly introduce the space to guests in the way we wanted,”
said Deln Ortiz, general manager at Legends One World Observatory. “The system also required constant
maintenance, which was a dicult task since the projectors are located on the ceiling. T
o service it, we needed
to use lifts which we couldn’t do while the observatory was in operation.”
In the evening, the setting sun would cast a reection on the display, diminishing visibility
. “Needless to say,
this was not the rst impression we wanted to portray to guests,” Ortiz said. “These challenges drove us
to reevaluate and consider reinvesting in technology to create an introduction tting with this world- class
attraction.”
The update involved replacing the projector system with a curved and expansive oor-to-ceiling Leyard
®
TVF
Series LED video wall installation with a 1.8mm pixel pitch (TVF1.8). Named the Welcome Wall, the installation
is composed of two adjoining Leyard TVF Series LED video walls—a 47.6-foot-wide, 15.6-foot-high video wall
array in a 24x14 conguration and a 15.9-foot-wide, 7.8-foot-high video wall array in an 8x7 conguration—that
create one contiguous and seamless digital surface.
The Leyard TVF Series is a family of ne pitch LED video wall displays featuring a 16:9 aspect ratio that allows
every pixel pitch to exactly achieve popular resolutions including Full HD and 4K. Oering front serviceability
and a creative stackable design, the Leyard TVF Series eliminates cabinet-to-cabinet cabling and reduces
the complexity of installation and vertical alignment. With a prole of less than three inches and cabling clutter
removed, the need for extra space around the video wall is dramatically reduced.
The Welcome Wall greets visitors with a large world map that transforms into a rotating globe and back to a
map at regular intervals. Guests buying tickets online or at the kiosk are asked to indicate their hometown,
and when their ticket is scanned at the security check, their hometown is highlighted on the map. Graphics
are used to show the relative number of visitors from certain areas around the world and a stats line displays
attendance data, such as the total number of visitors for the week. The W
elcome Wall also recognizes the
global diversity of people that visit the One World Observatory by displaying and rotating the word “welcome” in
multiple languages.
“The new technology allows us to do what we originally had envisioned—to create a ‘wow moment’ for our
guests,” Ortiz said. “With the projector system, people were not acknowledging that there was anything of
real interest. But now, visitors regularly gather in front of the video wall for pictures. We feel it’s a great way to
connect with visitors.”
Legends has started using the video wall to acknowledge holidays and Ortiz anticipates using the installation
in the future to highlight special events or to show appreciation to larger visiting groups. “Our focus is the
customer journey and the Welcome Wall enables us to enhance that journey in the most impressive way,” he
said.
New kiosk and box oce LED video walls improve guest
communications
After conrming the Welcome Wall upgrade, Legends looked for further digital opportunities to better
communicate to guests. This led to two more LED video wall installations—a 23.8-foot-wide, 2.2-foot-high
Leyard TVF Series LED video wall with a 1.8mm pixel pitch (TVF1.8) in a 12x2 conguration that serves as a
kiosk wall; and a 15-foot-wide, 5-foot-high Leyard
®
VersaLight
™
Series LED video wall with a 2.5mm pixel pitch
(VLI2.5) in a 19x3 conguration that serves as a box oce wall.
Delivering high contrast and brightness, the Leyard
®
VersaLight
™
Series is an innovative family of LED video
wall displays available in a variety of pixel pitches that are designed with exibility to support a wide range of
indoor and outdoor applications. The modularity and exibility of the Leyard VersaLight Series supports custom
video wall shapes and sizes, and provides a high degree of design creativity for working with the most space-
challenged applications. No other LED video wall product can be mounted, installed and serviced in as many
ways.
Located at the entrance, the 12x2 Leyard VersaLight
Series LED box oce wall provides a tool to educate
visitors about the experience that each ticket option
oers as well as the various amenities available
throughout One World Observatory. “The LED display
really makes a dierence with the ticket buying
experience—it’s an incredible way to present our
oerings to guests,” according to Ortiz.
The 19x3 Leyard TVF Series LED kiosk wall, located
directly above the actual kiosks where customers
purchase their tickets, is used for directional waynding
and to further communicate ticket options to guests.
“Since half of our audience is from outside the U.S., we
need to be able to communicate with non-English speakers,” Ortiz said. “The
LED kiosk wall allows us to do that using visuals that are clear and dynamic.”
Combined, the three new LED video wall installations have exceeded expectations. “The displays look
spectacular,” Ortiz said. “Every step of the way, Leyard and Planar wereas there to assist and provide
recommendations. Not only was it a tough project, but this is a pretty tough building to have any project done.
Leyard and Planar worked with us through many operational changes, and their exibility and willingness to do
whatever was needed to make the project happen was truly a great partnership.”
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Leyard and Planar are trademarks of Leyard Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. and Planar Systems, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their holders. Copyright © 2018 Leyard Optoelectronics Co.,
Ltd. and Planar Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document may not be copied in any form without permission from Leyard or Planar. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. 7/2019
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“Leyard and Planar worked
with us through many
operational changes, and their
exibility and willingness to do
whatever was needed to make
the project happen was truly a
great partnership.”
— Deln Ortiz,
General Manager,
Legends One World
