San Diego is a national hot spot and hub of global brands from healthcare to high tech. Commercial real estate developer Avison Young’s gorgeous 23-floor building at 655 W. When Avison Young’s Assistant Property Manager Pearce Pavle was tasked with transforming the lobby into a powerful centerpiece, she and the team turned to M1 Interactive and Sharp's dvLED video wall.
Background
San Diego is a national hot spot and hub of global brands from healthcare to high tech. Commercial real estate developer Avison Young’s gorgeous 23-floor building at 655 W. Broadway represents the best of downtown San Diego commerce. Avison Young represents more than 400 million square feet of property in 16 countries around the world. Home of professional firms and progressive companies seeking an elegant office in a centralized location, 655 W. Broadway’s design combines form and function.
With a mostly transparent, glass exterior, the building was created for both users and the city, intriguing the pedestrian to explore. Along the west side, 655 W. Broadway responds to the movement of fluidity of San Diego’s bay while the east side engages with the city’s downtown grid. Avison Young’s Assistant Property Manager Pearce Pavle was tasked with transforming the lobby from a standard entryway into a powerful centerpiece to make people stop and take a breath. She and the team decided the best way to do this was to convert a large portion of a blank, grey concrete wall into a vibrant, show stopping video wall in line with the building’s state of the art technology.
Pavle knew the team needed to partner with a company to help them design the space and integrate the advanced technology. Because this was going to be a sophisticated system, they needed a group that would provide world-class design and technical expertise, and a willingness for all parties involved in the project to assist from start to finish. The partner they chose was M1 Interactive and the technology being integrated was a dvLED video wall from Sharp.
Selecting a Show-Stopping Centerpiece
M1 Interactive works with a spectrum of technologies from holographic and augmented reality experiences to massive, building-sized projection mapping exhibits and installations. They felt the lobby’s setup would be perfect for a video wall but didn’t want something that would look like several TVs placed side-by-side. They needed a scalable, seamless, crystal clear solution with the ability to accurately portray brilliant colors and last for decades.
When selecting the right solution, they looked to dvLED. With a typical lifetime range from 70,000 to 100,000 hours and the ability to produce a seamless state of the art image, NEC’s FA025i2 indoor dvLED modules were the ideal solution for this space. M1 Interactive designed and installed the 150 panel, 20’ x 17’ video wall, with the assistance of general contractor, Gilliland Construction Management. Part of the elegance of dvLED modular technology is its ability to provide front serviceable modules, which allows for installation and maintenance in difficult to access areas and the pixel cards are hot swappable, which can be replaced without powering down the display. M1 also appreciated the thin and lightweight design, which provided easy installation.
Within the tower, visitors and tenants have a breathtaking panoramic view of the bay and the Pacific Ocean, as well as unobtrusive view of Coronado Island, the coast towards Mexico. The visual quality of the video wall needed to match and reflect the natural splendor of its setting. As such, the visual display leverages a fine, 2.5mm pixel pitch, which was determined to be the optimum display resolution based on the viewing distance of the audience and the 16:9 aspect ratio for easy scalability to resolutions such as HD, FHD and UHD. This was particularly important for M1 because they produced and curated original 4K content showcasing numerous high definition natural scenes and artistic visualizations.
A Redefined Lobby
“We’ve used many different products across the past 5 years in a variety of capacities,” said Brian Dressel, President of M1 Interactive. “Sharp delivered commercial-grade products that fit the needs of our project with great reliability and stellar customer support.”
The vibrant 4K imagery communicates more than a feeling of welcome in 655 W. Broadway’s lobby—it sets the entire building apart from anything else in Downtown San Diego.
Dressel continued, “Besides the fact that the wall is beyond beautiful, the dvLED wall drives home the message that this is a state-of-the-art building with amenities and capabilities that won’t be found anywhere else. The lobby provides a springboard for San Diego companies to jump into the future.
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
