AllianceBernstein NY Offices at Hudson Yards, New York City

AI in motion

AllianceBernstein partnered with Gensler on a first-of-its-kind AI-powered immersive art experience, transforming its workplace into an ever-evolving world.

Challenge

When AllianceBernstein relocated their NY office, the design needed to embody the ethos of the city's dynamic energy, with a fully integrated digital-physical experience that could reflect the firm’s commitment to innovation and adaptability, and its leadership navigating the evolving digital landscape.

Purpose

The Dreamwall is a striking greeting to visitors in the Client Reception Hub and evolves continuously each day, reflecting the spirit of New York as well as the practical challenge of keeping digital experiences fresh with new content. The AI-powered installation is an inspiring encouragement to employees and visitors to embrace technology in their every day.

Experience

Using custom AI algorithms, interactive triggers, and motion-responsive elements, The Dreamwall transforms the workplace into a constantly shifting, interactive dreamscape. The visuals, inspired by diverse artistic movements, times of day, and landscapes, transition gracefully every 2-3 minutes and unfurl more than a city block in length, from the Reception Hub into the hallway, where the visuals display through a custom material composed of a cellular grate, diffusion glass, and LED Mesh.

A person walking in front of a large painting.

A person standing in front of a large screen.

AI Content Production & Software Development

As we sought to solve the challenge of “How do I keep content fresh?” Gensler and our AllianceBernstein client arrived at a novel solution: leverage Artificial Intelligence to regularly generate a stream of new abstract visuals.

To provide boundaries and intentional art direction for the AI system, rigorous testing and training were conducted to align the generated visuals with the optimal content for the spatial conditions as well as A|B's brand identity.

Over 12,000 images were reviewed and rated through a custom-designed mobile-friendly rating system, with only the best parent images selected to form a reliable art direction for new visuals. This careful curation ensured consistently compelling and aesthetically aligned results.

A parent/child image model ensures controlled randomness while maintaining artistic cohesion. A|B and DXD collaborated to custom-create the AI algorithm, incorporating variables such as subject matter, artistic inspiration, and movement. The input phrases that spawned the AI dream overlay the imagery, providing poetic context and meaning to the abstract visual experience.

A canyon with a river running through it.

Examples of the abstract images that were generated to determine the art direction for The Dreamwall.

The Dreamwall is designed to foster engagement and interaction. By integrating TouchDesigner effects and LIDAR motion capture, the installation responds dynamically to human movement, making the experience more immersive and responsive. Application of LIDAR sensor technology replaced the equivalent of 28 traditional motion-tracking cameras with just three devices and achieved the same or even better results. Custom programming creates subtle ambient movement to suggest the wall is always alive, as well as thoughtful transitions between dreamlike visuals.

A "Next Button" allows visitors and employees to manually trigger the next uniquely generated dreamscape, encouraging participation and reinforcing the connection between technology and human creativity.