For their centennial celebration in 2019, AIG wanted to create a timeline of the company’s history over the last 100 years, which would be displayed in the New York City lobby of AIG’s headquarters. The installation, which was designed and built by Jack Morton Worldwide, consisted of three 10′ square sections of wall, which could move around independently of each other, in case the client wanted to change their locations in the lobby. Jack Morton contacted us in late 2018, in need of a custom lighting controller for each section of wall.

The Problem

The panels in each section of wall were backlit, and the design called for them to dim when no one was nearby, and then get brighter when someone approached – but not when people were just passing by. Additionally, because the three walls could move independently, each section needed its own controller, all tied to a central programming interface.

The Solution

The motion sensing was a simple solution: each wall had a motion sensor fitted with a “hood”, which allowed it to have a very limited field of view. Each motion sensor was connected to a custom version of our Miranda controller, which hosted a WiFi access point and a custom control website. By logging into this website from any phone or computer, Jack Morton’s designers were able to adjust all the lighting parameters on each of the walls, including brightness and various timing parameters around the motion sensor trip.

The motion sensing element ended up being cut after it was installed, but the ability to update the programming via WiFi was still extremely useful. Rather than climbing a ladder to get to the control point on top of each 10′ wall to make changes (and getting in the way of the carpenters who were still working on them), the programmer was able to sit across the lobby and get the full view of the walls and make adjustments as needed.