IN THE INDUSTRY

NYC’s Moynihan Train Hall Re-opens with Dynamic DIGITAL INTEGRATION

PURCHASE, NEW YORK— Emerging as the new era of commuter travel in New York, the completely renovated Moynihan Train Hall opened for passengers in late December. The $1.6 billion project transformed the more-than-100-year-old James A. Farley Building into a worldclass transportation hub that increases the existing Penn Station rail complex’s concourse space by 50 percent. (Note: The 255,000-square-foot transit hub is part of a mixed-use development that crosses 8th Avenue into the historic James A. Farley Post Office Building.)

Gone is the overcrowded, unremarkable experience of the past—today’s experience is bright, welcoming, spacious, and thoroughly innovative.

The new train station, a tangible link to New York’s grand history, features a modern digital passenger experience courtesy of ANC, an experience design and execution company.

Partnering with Empire State Development Corporation, ANC’s role as lead integrator in the project has created a dynamic digital media network aimed at improving passenger connectivity and comfort.

ANC completed its work in two phases. Phase I featured deployment of more than 1,700 square feet of 4mm LED throughout the train hall. It includes digital screens in a range of sizes; LCD kiosks; and a unique trapezoid-shaped display in the north entrance stairwell. Ceiling box screens alongside glass lighting fins in the east bay simulate the sky.

The displays have live video capabilities and regularly feature important updates for passengers, along with New York-centric visuals to promote travel and create a more relaxing commuter environment.

Phase II deployment integrated 150 assets including LCD and fine-pitch LED displays unique to national transit stations to ensure a variety of passenger information from multiple transit entities are easy to find.

The physical build-out over two phases creates a digital experience unlike any other transit environment while ensuring passengers are immersed in a true

The renovated Moynihan Train Hall includes a digital passenger experience.

TODAY’S EXPERIENCE [AT THE TRAIN STATION] IS BRIGHT, WELCOMING, SPACIOUS, AND THOROUGHLY INNOVATIVE.

New York experience.

The train station now features live video capability and real-time transit updates through its complete digital network.

Additionally ANC’s content management system, LiveSync, combines information from three different transit providers (the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Long Island Rail Road, and Amtrak) to display complex train times and information for each transit authority across the digital network.

ANC’s thoughtful procurement and placement of digital technology, along with the artful and elegant use of projection and lighting to mimic a skylit serenity, combine to create a sense of ease for passengers.

“The completion of this gorgeous new train hall would be a special accomplishment at any time, but it’s an extraordinary accomplishment today because we’re at a place where no one ever envisioned being,” said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in a speech at the grand reopening. “We built this as a statement of who we are and who we aspire to be. Is it grand? Yes. Is it bold? Yes, because that is the spirit of New York, and that is the statement we want to make to our visitors, to our children, and to future generations.

“As dark as 2020 has been, this new hall will bring the light, literally and figuratively, for everyone who visits this great city.” (https://bit.ly/2LpS6Bf)

RENO SIGN RESTORATIONS

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—YESCO, a one-hundred-year-old sign company in Salt Lake City, recently designed, fabricated, and installed nine historic neon signs along the historic West Fourth Street corridor in Reno’s Neon Line District.

Reno’s Neon Line District is an urban, multi-year, mixed-use, master-planning effort in downtown Reno, Nevada.

The centerpiece of the district is the half-mile-long installation of historic neon tribute signage combined with an LED-lit knee wall and monumental art sculptures.

Eight of the nine signs on Reno’s Neon Line are tribute signs and were designed and fabricated to look like the originals in a tribute to Reno’s history.

YESCO’s installation marks the end of phase two of Reno’s Neon Line as planned by Jacobs Entertainment. The third and final phase will be completed mid-2021.

This neon sign project took YESCO more than 2,071 man-hours to complete. YESCO worked over 208 hours to install the tape lighting portion of the project.

“It’s gratifying to know that our work will be viewed by visitors for years to come,” said YESCO Senior Vice President Jeff Young. (https://bit.ly/3rxdIwp)

IN THE INDUSTRY

STILL CREEK PRESS HITS THE HIGH NOTES AT THE OPERA

BRAMPTON, ONTARIO—Vancouver-based full-service commercial print company Still Creek Press recently helped students from the University of British Colombia (UBC) in Canada stage and perform an opera virtually for audiences at home.

The UBC Opera programme puts on shows for the local community each year, but these had to be put on hold in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with indoor entertainment venues in Vancouver forced to temporarily close.

Not to be deterred by the restrictions on audience attendance, UBC Opera decided to stage a number of virtual events on November 30; students performed opera at the University’s venue, and the show was streamed live to audiences watching at home.

Still Creek Press’s role was to produce floor graphics resembling a dirt road for the stage to help deliver the full opera experience. The production was filmed from several levels and views, meaning the graphics had to be visible and look realistic from all angles.

Still Creek Press Wide-Format Manager Bruce Lee explains, “Essentially, we started with an empty stage. We were tasked with installing floor graphics that looked stunning and could be easily removed at the end of the performance. As stages are brightly lit, we also needed a material with a matte finish.”

The company output graphics onto Drytac SpotOn Floor 200 film covering an area of 70-by-90 feet. Nine rolls of the Drytac film were required to complete the project, and the graphics were printed in four days/nights on a Roland SOLJET Pro 4 XR-640 large format device.

Installation of the floor graphics required collaboration. “We weren’t the only crew there working on the stage, and this meant keeping our distance from other crews and equipment,” says Lee. “Once a section was completed, we had to switch sides with the other crew or wait until they were done with their part.”

What would usually have taken a team of installers two days to install only took Still Creek Press five hours, which Lee credits to using Drytac SpotOn Floor 200. “It [was] super-easy to apply. We were able to get our part of the production done well before time, which meant those working around us had more time to finish their projects,” he says. “It looked great under the lighting!”

MACTAC HONORS K-9 HERO

STOW, OHIO—Employees at the Mactac facility in Columbus, Indiana came together to honor and thank the heroes of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, which serves and protects the employees of Mactac’s Indiana location.

After learning of the recent passing of Diesel, a K-9 deputy who was part of a life-saving traffic stop for Mactac employee Nikki Gibson, Mactac donated a large, painted portrait of K-9 Diesel to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office. Gibson, along with Columbus plant manager Ryan Smith and HR manager Carl Holt, presented the portrait to the Sheriff’s Office on December 18. The portrait was also featured in an honorary ceremony in which U.S. Representative Greg Pence presented the Congressional Record honoring K-9 Officer Diesel.

Bartholomew County Deputy Matt Bush, Diesel’s partner, said, “I am blown away by the support that the community has given and that an encounter I had with a person made an impact. It shows that what we do matters.”

Sheriff Matt Myers added, “The thoughtfulness and empathy of Bartholomew County residents like Nikki Gibson lifts us up every single day.” (https://bit.ly/3iez9On)