(HOUSTON) – Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today that 1100 Louisiana has completed ground-floor renovations that will welcome forward-thinking tenants for years to come. The renovations include a hospitality-inspired lobby with new furnishings, upgraded LED lighting and new stone wall finishes.
The crown jewel of the new lobby is the recently installed digital experience lobby wall, dubbed “the 1100 Experience.” The 4K display measures 32 feet wide by 18 feet high with a 36-foot diagonal distance, which makes it the largest commercial office indoor digital installation of its kind in downtown Houston. This new digital platform will provide tenants and visitors of 1100 Louisiana incredible access to a myriad of art and local talent from the Houston region.
Hines Senior Property Manager Mark Janssen said, “Ownership wanted to capitalize on an already vibrant lobby and further enhance its experience through the integration of large-scale digital media. We worked with a team of innovators and have a great plan in place to bring a wide variety of unique content to tenants and visitors of 1100 Louisiana through a unique partnership with the community.”
Hines teamed up with global architecture and design firm Gensler to create the one-of-a-kind, immersive digital brand experience. The 1100 Experience, features hours of unique digital experiences including content that is dynamically generated around several themes. Additionally, the 1100 Louisiana experience incorporates content and digital art created by Houston’s most celebrated visual and performing arts institutions, non-profit institutions, university students, local artists, NASA and many others. Three Texas universities have already signed up to contribute to the content and are working to adapt the curricula of their Digital Art departments around the new LED canvas.
The 1100 Experience is designed to constantly generate original content, drawing from four main themes: Beauty in Data, Change of State, Imagination Room, and Living Wall. The featured project was a collaboration of Gensler’s Digital Experience Design group and Brand Design teams–utilizing expertise from its Houston and Chicago offices. The original content was brought to life by the digital developers at Float4 of Montreal.
“In the context of today’s competitive real estate market, 1100 Louisiana was looking for a way to differentiate the property while providing an amenity that was entertaining and memorable,” said Jerry Alexander, Gensler Principal in Charge of the Project. “Additionally, Hines was looking to better connect to the community and provide a platform for partnership. We had a goal to create a series of experiences for tenants and guests that were new every time, familiar, yet always changing. Our hope is to attract people to the space and get them to want to pause in their day, stay a while and connect with others. Hines wanted to help celebrate the best of Houston while providing an immersive and memorable experience unique to the central business district.”
As part of the 1100 Louisiana lobby renovation, Hines and Gensler turned to NanoLumens, award-winning creators of LED visualization solutions in any size, shape, or curvature, to design a display that would engage the community with content from local organizations, museums, and universities.
According to NanoLumens Regional Sales Manager Eric Seigler, “1100 Louisiana is an iconic building in the heart of downtown Houston and this display, together with the content being shown, is a gift to the community. We’re proud to be part of a team that made this gift possible.”
AV design-build integrator Conference Technologies, Inc. installed and commissioned the 576-square-foot LED wall for the lobby, which will be a community art piece and bring visual impact to a pillar of the commercial business district. The sheer size of the direct view LED, compounded by limited site access with only 17 inches between the wall and the escalator, meant safety and innovative techniques were also vital throughout the process.
The 2.5mm pixel pitch display has a tightly compacted density, which means the resolution is impeccable and the exhibited images are crisp. “With this pixel capability, it is an excellent display for creative content to be developed and pushed to the limits,” said John Powell, Conference Technologies, Inc.’s Regional Vice President.
“We are excited to help inject technology into a cornerstone space in downtown Houston. Helping to refresh the design of buildings from the 70s and 80s is something at which Hines is at the forefront, and we are thrilled to be a part of it,” added Brent Baxter, Conference Technologies, Inc. Design Consultant. “To have space where the community contributes and experiences the technology adds to the local atmosphere and the endurance of the placemaking goals a structure like 1100 Louisiana has on the district.”
About 1100 Louisiana
Developed and managed by Hines, 1100 Louisiana is a 1.4 million-square-foot, 55-story office tower located in downtown Houston. Clad in Spanish Rose granite, the building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and was completed by Hines in 1980. Hines has served as property manager since it was originally developed.
1100 Louisiana is owned by Fantome Tower L.P. and is 99% leased to tenants, including: Enterprise Products Partners, L.P.; King & Spalding LLP, Ryder Scott Company, L.P. and Gibbs & Bruns, L.L.P.; among others.
About Gensler
Gensler is a global architecture, design, and planning firm with 48 locations and more than 6,000 professionals networked across Asia, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and the Americas. Founded in 1965, the firm serves more than 3,500 active clients in virtually every industry. Gensler designers strive to make the places where people live, work, and play more inspiring, more resilient, and more impactful. Gensler is organized to support clients at every stage of the design cycle, from initial strategy and design planning through implementation and management.
Recent accolades: Glassdoor Best Places to Work 2019, Architectural Record #1 Architecture Firm 2019, Fast Company “Most Innovative Companies 2018”, Forbes “America’s Best Midsize Employers” 2017, Interior Design “Most Admired Firm” 2017.
About Float4
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Montreal QC, Canada, Float4 (www.float4.com) is an award-winning studio of creative professionals who are passionate about weaving compelling digital experiences into physical spaces to amplify their identity. Collaborating as a team of versatile, like-minded individuals, Float4 strives to redefine conventions by designing and producing innovative and compelling site-specific interactive multimedia installations that attract and engage with targeted audiences around the world.
About NanoLumens
NanoLumens Inc. is a private American corporation that designs and manufactures digital LED displays. Since its founding in 2006, it has designed products that target the market gap between consumer flat panel displays and commercial outdoor LED billboards in indoor spaces.
About Conference Technologies, Inc.
Conference Technologies, Inc. is a complete solutions provider for audio-visual, video, and information technology integration that delivers systems design, engineering, installation, technical support, video conferencing and event production services. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, with twenty-one offices operating nationwide, Conference Technologies, Inc. serves clients in the corporate, education, finance, healthcare and government markets, since 1988. Visit www.conferencetech.com to learn more.
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 219 cities in 23 countries. Hines has approximately $124.3 billion of assets under management, including $63.8 billion for which Hines provides fiduciary investment management services, and $60.5 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. The firm has 148 developments currently underway around the world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,362 properties, totaling over 449 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 514 properties, representing over 222 million square feet. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to sustainability, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information.
