The Energy Dial — the Unisphere’s 40-foot kinetic light sculpture, its radial blades fanned open across the atrium ceiling, seen from below

PRODUCT / BRAND / EXPERIENCEUnited Therapeutics Unisphere

Technical drawing of the building’s core systems

Glass and light study — a beam of light refracted through a clear form

Glass study — a blue disc seen through a row of clear rods

Lighting test — two radial light forms glowing on black

Rendering of the Energy Dial with its blades fanned, from below

Concept rendering — a visitor standing beneath the radial sculpture in the white atrium

Concept rendering — angled light slats along a tall white wall

Concept rendering — the radial form cast onto a white wall

Concept rendering — the data wall as a long band of light, a visitor standing beside it

Motion test — vertical bars of light receding along the data wall

The Energy Dial installed — blades fanned open on the atrium ceiling

The Energy Dial from below, beside the atrium’s perforated wall

The atrium — the sculpture overhead, planting and water below

A visitor at the touchscreen end of the 120-foot data wall

The interactive data wall running the length of the corridor, a visitor beside it

Environmental graphic in orange: “I am a sustainable building”

A visitor reading the orange “I am a sustainable building” wall graphic

Environmental graphics along a corridor wall, a visitor walking past

Detail of a blue and orange supergraphic on a wall

People walking a corridor lined with environmental graphics

PROJECT: UNITED THERAPEUTICS UNISPHERE ROLE: CREATIVE DIRECTOR

CONTEXT

United Therapeutics built one of the country's first net-zero office buildings, but nothing about standing in the lobby would tell you the building above runs on a network of systems tuned to the planet, giving back more energy than it takes. The people working inside every day would have no way to sense it either.

APPROACH

Get in early, go deep. Ground was already broken, so embed with the architects and systems engineers to learn how the building actually works, align with the C-suite on what it needs to say, and build a cross-functional creative team to turn deeply technical systems into experiences both employees and visitors can feel and understand — woven into the daily life of the building.

The work began before the construction drawings were finished — early enough to shape the experience into the building, not around it.

Early references and studies exploring the link between natural phenomena and data visualization.

Explorations of abstract, organic data visualization.

After landing on a solar-inspired form for the main visualization, the fabrication team dove into physical prototyping.

Motion and form studies for the data wall.

SOLUTION

Three integrated pieces. The Energy Dial — a 40-foot kinetic light sculpture driven by real-time energy data — reads the building's power state at a glance. A 120-foot interactive panel reveals the detail: historical and live data, explorable with a swipe. And infographics and animations throughout carry the systems and the mission into the rest of the space. All of it native to the building from day one.

A 40-foot kinetic light sculpture anchors the space.

A high-resolution touchscreen provides control at one end; the rest of the 120-foot panel shows past and present data.

OUTCOME

The permanent centerpiece of the building — and the way the people inside read what it's doing, every day. Covered by Forbes; named to Fast Company's World Changing Ideas.

Environmental graphics throughout explain the building and the company’s mission.

ROLE

SCOPE

PARTNERS

Creative Director

Data-driven kinetic sculpture, interactive data hallway, environmental graphics.

HUSH EwingCole

The United Therapeutics Unisphere — a solar-inspired kinetic data sculpture

PRODUCT / BRAND / EXPERIENCEUnited TherapeuticsUnisphere