![\"FUSE06-1.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.mediaarchitecture.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2007\/10\/FUSE06-1.jpg\")
\n\n![\"FUSE01-1.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.mediaarchitecture.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2007\/10\/FUSE01-1.jpg\")
\n\nThe FUSE music-television network, based in New York City, plays rock, alternative, punk, hardcore, emo and indie music. It claims a techsavvy audience ready to interact with the network via the Internet, cellphones and other wireless devices. Fuse recognized its product\u2019s popularity, said Fuse VP of Operations Dave Alworth, but needed an equally effective \u201cpublic\u201d profile to contend as a new, New York City icon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cUltimately, the challenge we faced was how to use the signage to bring the Fuse television studio onto the sidewalk,\u201d said Fitch\u2019s studio director, George Kewin, AIA. \u201cVice versa, we also wanted to bring the viewing pedestrians \u2018into\u2019 the studio to have a more personal contact with the brand.\u201d Fitch proposed four types of LED displays that formed a series of overlapping sightlines to constantly draw viewers\u2019 attention, first to the building, then to the building\u2019s windows. From a distance, the Fuse channel letters, in which videoscreens are embedded, are visible at least six blocks south.<\/p>\n\n
As pedestrians approach the building, a second sign system, a series of overhead, high-definition videoscreens, displays endlessly changing colors, video imagery and text messages across the building. For the third sign attraction, a \u201czipper\u201d electronic message center snakes in and out of the serpentine contours of four, two-story-tall window bays, continues down into the sidewalk in front of the building and ends underneath the channel letters. Finally, surprised viewers watch as LED-display curtains fold and disappear behind the windows in front of them.<\/p>\n\n![\"image19.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.mediaarchitecture.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2007\/10\/image19.jpg\")
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The curtain system comprises a mechanical framework that holds the LED tubes in place as it folds in and out of the window bay and LED video tubes, which LED Effects Inc. (Rancho Cordova, CA) custom designed and inserted into the curtain frame. The original mechanical structure was acquired, according to MultimediaLED\u2019s Bob Sawler, from a company in England, and then modified for this project. When closed, the curtains display a 6-ft.-tall video image. When opened, they fold back into a 12-in. storage space that allows an unobstructed view into the interior television studio.<\/p>\n\n
Text by Louis M. Brill (louisbrill[at]sbcglobal.net)
\nLouis M. Brill is a journalist and consultant for high-tech entertainment and media communications.
\nPhotos by MultimediaLEDs (Rancho Cordova, CA).<\/p>\n\n