Kettner & Ash: A Monolithic Art Installation Celebrating San Diego’s Cultural History
StandardVision recently completed a monolithic digital art installation for the newly-renovated Kettner & Ash office development in the heart of San Diego’s historic Little Italy district. Along with a design-build solution of the five story high LED video wall, StandardVision produced custom artwork that captures the spirit of the development while paying homage to its iconic location.
With the goal of integrating the installation to the building’s uniquely vertical atrium wall, StandardVision’s design & engineering team collaborated with architect Gensler San Diego and general contractor Burger Construction, project manager Cushman & Wakefield, and designers DivcoWest to transform the narrow facade into a modern, larger-than-life LED lobby display amenity. In order to achieve the unique monolithic shape desired by the client (11ft wide x 56.7ft tall), StandardVision’s power-efficient LED matrix tile solutions were closely coordinated with building electrical, and mounted onto existing structural members to minimize new infrastructure costs, while matching the revamped architectural design.
StandardVision implemented its proprietary state-of-the-art content management system SVRunner to easily monitor and update the artwork. The software also facilitates dynamic transitions between creatives, generating unexpected juxtapositions through a permutation algorithm. The result evokes seemingly endless variations and unique viewing experiences with each visit.
The custom artwork titled Fragments in Time was envisioned as a series of interwoven vignettes that celebrate Italian nostalgia alongside contemporary culture unique to San Diego. To facilitate this vision, StandardVision created a hybrid approach to the content that marries photo collage with animation and real-time transitions powered by our SVRunner software. With the intention of evoking fragmented dreamscapes of cultural epochs, the artwork generates unexpected, surreal juxtapositions using a permutation algorithm that produces seemingly endless variations, allowing for consistently unique viewing experiences.
The resulting installation is an evocative digital tapestry that celebrates the cultural history of Little Italy while supporting the experiential design and brand identity developed by StandardVision’s client DivcoWest. Visible from both the space’s interior as well as the street level, the iconic screen can be enjoyed by tenants and pedestrians alike, becoming a new modern monument within San Diego’s famed historic district.
