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Times Square: 100 Years and Moving On
Lumacom, Coca-Cola, J.P. Morgan Chase and Mr. Stromboli make their marks on Times Square.
By Louis Brill (2005-03-21)




As Times Square enters its second century as the Crossroads of the World, it constantly reinvents itself as the world’s premier sign mecca.

Newly installed LED signs continue as the leading signage of corporate messaging, as they blaze alongside neon, flexible-face and dimensional signage. LED videoscreens have transformed the area into a theme park of large-format, video delights.

This annual, Times Square report focuses on three, trendsetting LED screens. Lumacom has introduced a hybrid billboard, which, by day, is a static print image and, past dusk, transforms into an LED videoscreen.

The Coca-Cola sign, versions of which have been area landmarks since 1920, features a curvilinear surface, which breaks the LED videoscreen’s flat-display mold. J.P. Morgan Chase presents a large-format, high-definition screen. An equally exciting sign depicts a whimsical, animatronic chef, who runs back and forth across a store-top sign.

Lumacom

Lumacom, a Perth, Australia-based, product-technology company, developed and manufactured a unique, hybrid billboard that’s a static print by day and an LED video display by dusk. The “LumaPanel” sign is being formulated into a growing, international network of print/electronic signs with several installations in Europe and Australia. Its Times Square debut kicks off a push to expand its network throughout the United States.

The first U. S. sign will be placed atop Four Times Square (the Conde Nast building at 42nd and Broadway), standing approximately 700 ft. from street level, making it one of the highest in New York City and an integral part of the skyline.

Rather than relying on a full LED-RGB video matrix, which would completely cover a sign face, Lumacom technology uses only 10% of the required LED units to achieve the same video-display effect. The 1 x 1-meter LumaPanel incorporates clusters of RGB LED units, with a virtual perceived pitch of 30mm between each LED cluster, which forms large gaps. When viewed from a distance, the gaps “disappear,” and a complete, animated, video image appears. Lumacon’s exclusive, abbreviated, LED-matrix technology reportedly lowers sign-board manufacturing costs, while, from a distance, it approximates a conventional, video-billboard image.

The Lumacom video billboard also provides a twofold electrical cost savings. The reduced LED cluster count and the sign’s configurations reduce the power required to run the screen. Furthermore, the sign’s video component is only engaged at night, which also saves power.

Lumacom’s co-founder, Oscar Sala, described the screen’s optical effects. He refers to this process as “pychophysics,” or the study of perception, particularly the connection between nerve action and consciousness.

As an example, examine a CRT-television screen closely, and you’ll see thousands of colored dots. From a normal viewing distance, the dots merge into a clear, visibly rendered graphic image. This “psycho-optical effect” allows Lumacom to create its LumaPanel, which requires only 90 clusters per panel; an equivalent, LED panel would use 900 LED clusters to fill a square-meter space. In turn, Lumacom provides 90% fewer pixels with all the cost-saving advantages.

To further enhance the screen¹s functions, the LumaPanel accommodates front, graphic panels, which accept vinyl or painted static prints. The graphic panels are individually mounted to each cabinet. Perforated holes allow a print to mount “behind” each LED cluster. In the daytime, the print image appears as a standard, static billboard. At dusk, the LED clusters shine through the vinyl perforations and, in the dark, present the video image.

Tom Morra, Spectrum’s director of New York City projects in Times Square, whose company installed the Lumacom sign, revisited the placement process: “The LumaPanels were designed and manufactured by Lumacom Ltd. [Perth, Australia], shipped to New York City for Spectrum Signs’ inspection, and delivered to the job site for staging. Following that, we then prepared the sign structure with an elaborate safety-netting system. Once the safety factors are in place, a specially fabricated steel grid will be rigged and secured to the existing structure. This grid acts as an interconnecting mounting platform for each LumaPanel.”

The installation required 272, 3 x 3-ft. LumaPanel cabinets mounted and connected together to form the 53 x 56-ft. videoscreen. Because no welding is allowed on the original sign structure, each panel is mounted onto the bracketed, steel-grid system and bolted in place. Power and data-feed cables are connected from the main building to integrate all the elements.

Sign installation always hinges on weather conditions, especially for a sign of this proportion. Morra said, “During the cold, winter months, Mother Nature in New York City can become our worst enemy.” And because of many weather-related delays, the sign’s premiere has been scheduled for Spring 2005