Media Installation and Touch Stations

Understory at The Spheres: Immersive Visitor Experience

Client:

Amazon

Venue/Location:

The Spheres, Seattle Headquarters

Browse:

interactives

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Media installation focused on macro views of The Sphere's plant collection and Sphere fly-through tour sequences.

Visitors are able to relax and enjoy an immersive plant experience, coupled with a generative soundscape.

Visitors are surrounded by highlights from one of top plant collections in the world.

Themed modular exhibits contain multi-touch interactives (Sphere Discovery Stations) to engage visitors with media-rich stories. Input sensors enhance the experience—even before they touch it—as the digital content responds to the movement of their hands.

View into media installation at Understory—made up of a large curved LED wall and eleven supporting LED columns.

View into the Understory's central media installation—designed to immersive visitors in plant life while providing exception views into The Spheres above,

Visitors are immersed in beautiful macro videography of carnivorous plants.

Eleven columns of high-resolution LEDs present video content around visitors.

Project Accolades:

Parametric Architecture The links between biophilic art, engineering, and design: Understory at The Spheres, 2022
Digital Signage Awards First Place, Corporate Communications, 2019
DSE Apex Awards Bronze Medal, Experiential Design & Planning, 2019
SEGD Global Design Awards Finalist, 2018/2019
CBS News “‘You can’t be afraid to think big’: Inside Amazon’s Spheres,” 2018
USA Today “What’s inside Amazon’s glass Spheres? Hundreds of cool plants, hundreds of employees,” 2018
U.S. News “Striking Amazon ‘Spheres’ Landmark Opens in Downtown Seattle,” 2018
Bloomberg Technology “Inside Amazon’s Giant Spheres, Where Workers Chill in a Mini Rainforest,” 2018
The New York Times “Forget Beanbag Chairs. Amazon Is Giving Its Workers Treehouses,” 2016
The Seattle Times “Go Inside the Amazon Spheres. Here’s How,” 2018
King 5 News “Amazon’s urban oasis ‘The Spheres’ unveiled,” 2018
KOMO News “Get a look inside the Amazon Spheres next week,” 2018
Curbed Seattle “Amazon Spheres public visitor center opens January 30,” 2018

Belle & Wissell Team Credits

Principal: Gabe Kean
Studio Producer: Sarah Trueblood
Creative Director: Thomas Ryun
Technology Lead: Edward Tang
Art Director: Eric Harvey
Senior Designer: Edrea Lita
Content Dev’t Manager: Natalie Karbelnig
Senior Developer: Scott Thiessen
Music Composer: Jesse Solomon Clarke
Quality Assurance Engineer: Siarhei Bokach

Additional Project Credits

Exhibit Architect: Graham Baba Architects
Exhibit Designer: Studio Matthews
Exhibit Management: Jill Randerson Exhibit Management
Film Production: The Radisch, Co.
Film Director & Editor: John Jeffcoat
Film Producer: Lisa Farnham
Director of Photography: Doug Hostetter
Film Production Manager: Kelsey Graves
Media Engine Partner: Andrew Salviejo (YCD Multimedia)
A/V Systems Design and Integration: Keith Sawka, Zach Cook (Whitlock)
Fabricator: Dillon Works
Mechanical Engineer: Arup
Lighting Designer: Niteo