“Visualizing Information” Dimensional Mural
NC State University planned to renovate three floors of their main library, the D. H. Hill Library, to house a new Academic Success Center, Office of Undergraduate Research, interactive Innovation Studio, and a multimedia Data Visualization Studio.
Rather, the library team wanted the design team to envision an engaging series of elements to help define the spaces in an interesting and exciting way. It was a pretty open brief, with lots of room for invention. One area of particular importance is the outer curved wall of the new multimedia Data Visualization Studio, which faces
the top of the building’s main entry stair. The design team saw this as an opportunity to create a dramatic and informative feature.
Agency
Alexander Isley Inc.
Practice Area
Client
NC State University Libraries
Industry
The Challenge
The project team was commissioned to create an interior environmental design program for a refurbished D.H.Hill Jr. Library, the main library at NC State University. A feature of the plan was a circular Visualization Studio, featured in a central location, and we thought this would provide a good opportunity to create an installation.
Project Vision
The team proposed a mural showcasing the history of information gathering, storage, and dissemination. We researched historical methods of documenting information, and developed a dimensional timeline incorporating a range of data recording examples.
The design team identified a space to activate and created a model of the area.
Alexander Isley Inc.
Research: Methods of recording and conveying information throughout history.
Alexander Isley Inc.
The design team developed a colorful “sawtooth” lenticular design comprising a series of modules.
Alexander Isley Inc.
Design + Execution
The team developed a set of modular sawtooth panels that could be installed around the curved exterior of the studio. The curved shape provided the opportunity to have colors shift as a viewer walks around the installation. The color palette is based on an iconic 1970s-era site specific light installation that is in the library, providing a sense of continuity.
A selection of the “graphic timeline” panels the design team developed.
Alexander Isley Inc.
Color tests and full-size mockups in the design teams studio.
Alexander Isley Inc.
Installation shots: Graphics applied to formed steel.
Alexander Isley Inc.
View of the final installation. The colors change as the viewer walks around the perimeter.
NC State University
Project Details
Design Team
Alexander Isley Inc.
Collaborators
Alexander Isley Inc.; Alexander Isley (creative director), Matthew Kaskel (designer), Lord, Aeck, Sargent (architect), Poblocki Sign Company (fabrication)
Photo Credits
Alexander Isley Inc., NC State University
Open Date
September 2021