National Public Radio (NPR)

Total Pixels

2.75 Million

Pixel Pitch

10, 16 & 25 mm

Display Count

17

Square feet

725

SNA Displays supplied three LED display phases at the new headquarters for National Public Radio (NPR) at 1111 North Capitol Street NE. The exterior and lobby have a unique design and will be used as primary methods of communicating NPR news and information to the general public visiting the new high-tech headquarters. The 440,000 square foot building will be the new broadcast home of NPR programming.

The overall design has three separate LED video display technologies and applications: the exterior icon tower, exterior ticker and interior media mosaic. All LED signage was manufactured and supplied by SNA Displays.

LED ICON TOWER

At the corner of North Capitol Street NE and L Street NE, the LED icon tower rises to a height of 55 feet above the entry and faces both north and south. The tower integrates the latest in SNA's LED transparent display product line. In this case, the strips are integrated into vertical LED columns. The vertical pitch within the strips is 25 mm, and the strips are spaced 75 mm apart horizontally. The display is 55’0” tall by 2’5” wide and has a physical resolution of 672 x 11 pixels. SNA technology processes the imaginary pixels between physical strips so that the imagery is not distorted, making the virtual resolution of the display is 672 x 33 pixels.

Increasing the visual effect, a glass façade was installed in front of the LED strips, allowing viewers to see through the iconic structure.

LED TICKER

On the exterior wall at NPR’s main entrance, a 16 mm pitch LED ticker communicates the latest news and information. The ticker wraps the corner of the building and utilizes a custom corner module to keep the seam as minimal as possible. The ticker is 3’11” tall by 80’9” wide with a resolution of 64 x 1,520 pixels.

LED MEDIA MOSAIC

Of the three LED installations in the project, the interior LED media mosaic stands apart. The LED mosaic is located in the lobby just inside the entrance and provides visitors a highly visual, interactive experience. There are a total of 15 LED video display screens positioned at various locations in the “grid,” which wraps around the lobby wall corner. To provide cohesion to the mosaic, an LED ticker runs the full width of the lobby wall. The LED media mosaic employs a 10 mm pitch BOLD™ Interior product and has over 615,000 physical pixels. The entire space being processed is over 2.75 million pixels.