A 2024 winner of an international digital signage award, and voted Skytrax’s Best Airport in the World for 2024, the Hamad International Airport, Doha, represents a trend in serving travelers with large canvas signage that reads like digital art. In the past decade, designers have approached airport terminals and other transportation hubs as vast canvases for digital signage-forward experiences. It’s been a decade since Bradley International Terminal in Los Angeles debuted its dramatic, groundbreaking Moment Factory architectural video. Since then, Moment Factory has transformed travel gateways such as Singapore’s Changi airport (ten-time Best Airport in the World), Newark (Best New Terminal of 2024), and Hong Kong, as well as New York’s Moynihan train station and Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station, giving them each an ambience and art signature through dramatic digital signage.
These world-class travel hubs exemplify a paradigm shift in passenger experience innovation. “In today’s experience economy, travelers leave home with heightened expectations,” says Mikael Charpin, General Manager and Producer of the Cities Unit at Moment Factory. “Leading transportation hubs are no longer simply where the travel journeys begin and end. Increasingly, they have become a vital extension of the travel experience, where cultural discovery and entertainment open the door to higher satisfaction rates, increased brand value and revenues.”
As a recent impact study on immersive installations by studio HABO confirms, service environment and atmosphere account for a 42.5% weight in the traveler experience, making it the most significant factor for improving international rankings (as per Airports Council International). In addition to increasing brand equity, the study finds that art and immersive experiences boost traffic, dwell times and on-site revenues, proving transportation hubs can be places travelers and non-travelers alike choose to spend their time and money.
One of the most recent examples is the Hamad International Airport design. As part of an expansion that increased the airport’s capacity to more than 75 million visitors, Moment Factory created a rejuvenating multimedia environment for the new concourse’s indoor tropical garden, The Orchard.
Surrounding the oasis, a one-kilometer-long LED ribbon unfurls across two stories, amplifying the beauty of nature with native botanical themes and showcasing Qatar’s rich cultural heritage on a 24-hour ambient loop. Ideal for long layovers or even a quick recharge, the serene space encourages travelers to meander and dwell in the terminal’s retail, food and beverage zones, and repositions Hamad—ranked #1 in the world by Skytrax—as a refreshing rather than draining leg of the travel journey.
In the calm, natural environment of The Orchard, passengers can meet or relax between flights. Travelers encounter 6,000 square meters of indoor tropical gardens and 575 square meters of moving water that promote calmness and well-being.
The concept design and creative media development of the digital ribbon was created by Moment Factory and is driven using technology designed by the Electrosonic and Smart Monkeys collaboration.
The ribbon amplifies the sophisticated architecture of the terminal and unifies it with The Orchard’s natural features showcasing digital art and surreal graphics inspired by Qatari architecture, culture and landmarks. Every hour, the ribbon synchronizes with other displays around the terminal to create a moment of magical transformation.
The LED ribbon display presets dynamic custom-designed content at an impressive quality of 169 million pixels to optimize travelers’ viewing experience and reinforce the airport’s commitment Above The groundbreaking video waterfall design for Tom Bradley International Terminal to quality and elegance.
To control the display and maintain quality throughout the 1.2-kilometer ribbon, Electrosonic collaborated with Smart Monkeys and TAV Technologies to design an innovative content management and media delivery system that simplifies management of the entire infrastructure.
Efficiently delivering extensive amounts of high-resolution digital content to a 1.2-kilometer-long ribbon display required careful management of 169 million pixels to ensure the highest possible viewing quality. This complexity was compounded by the presence of curved segments and non-linear corners in the ribbon design.
Electrosonic collaborated with Smart Monkeys to design a large video playback, pixel management and content management system, all controlled by the ISAAC platform. AV Stumpfl (Pixera) media servers bring the project to life, managing pixels and delivering content.
Last year, for its third partnership with Changi Airport Group, Moment Factory, in collaboration with design studio BOIFFILS, created two new signature multimedia installations aimed at bringing the Garden City’s natural beauty into the newly renovated Terminal 2.
The Departure Hall now features The Wonderfall, a four-story digital waterfall that invites travelers to pause and admire the magic of nature. Nestled between vertical gardens, a curved LED screen showcases a mesmerizing cascade of water and rock formations. Multiple times an hour, travelers witness a surreal choreography as the flow dramatically reverses course for a 3 1/2-minute show set to a bespoke composition by pianist Jean-Michel Blais.
Airside, travelers can unwind in the Dreamscape, a lush garden beneath a sprawling digital sky. Mirroring real-time daylight and meteorological conditions via integration with the airport’s weather system, the overhead installation offers an unexpected view of the outside world. At intervals, the sky transforms into a captivating underwater scene. Embedded within the greenery, an ever-evolving soundscape draws from nearly 100 recordings of local wildlife, spatialized to create an immersive nature experience.
While video can create lush surroundings and soaring imagery for airport experiences, sometimes the best support for harried travelers is a little fun.
In May, JFK saw the first free-standing, life-like hologram display to grace an airport. Brought to us by Los Angeles-based Proto, this original patented hologram device and platform makes holoportation a reality. It’s advisor Howie Mandel even beamed in live to surprise travelers at JFK Terminal 4, operated by JFKIAT. The America’s Got Talent star is celebrating the recently expanded use of Proto at the terminal, including the presentation of Bronx Zoo Director Jim Breheny introducing sloths, alligators, pelicans, and warthogs in holographic form.
The people, animals and objects in the Proto units appear in life-size, volumetric 4K – looking exactly as if they are physically present in the terminal. When a guest beams in live, they can interact with travelers in real time. Proto’s AI capabilities are also being explored for future interactive traveler experiences.
Mandel has previously recorded a hologram explaining Terminal 4’s T4 Arts & Culture program and the Proto technology, and now he will beam there live for the first time.
“There’s something like magic that happens when people see Proto holograms for the first time,” said David Nussbaum, Inventor and CEO of Proto Inc. “At JFK Terminal 4, the whole world is stopping by and having this experience every day. To see the New York area’s best people and places represented in our devices in this amazing space really is a dream come true.”
Proto has previously been used at New York area landmarks such as Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Center, Moynihan Station, NYU, and at Barclays Center by the Brooklyn Nets.
Proto is active in enterprise, education, entertainment, health care, telecommunications, sports, the arts and retail and clients include Amazon AWS, Verizon, Accenture, PwC, Christie’s, and NBC Universal.
This is a trend that is sure to accelerate as people travel worldwide in record numbers and spend increasing time in airport terminals. Besides reducing stress with video-supported atmosphere, airports provide an opportunity for cities to immediately create a sense of place for their visitors. Engaging video content that captures the essence of the city through immersive imagery can make a powerful and lasting first impression.
