Tom Wiscombe Architecture has won a competition to design a new pilot project for Sunset Boulevard of West Hollywood, requested for proposals by City of West Hollywood in 2015 for The Sunset Strip Spectacular Pilot Creative Off-Site Advertising Sign. The RFP solicited teams to design a technologically advanced, engaging, one-of-a-kind, billboard structure, investigating a 21st century vision with contemporary digital and interactive technologies, media and multi-dimensional graphic design. 

Tom Wiscombe Architecture saw off the proposals of JCDecaux, Zaha Hadid Architects, Outfront Media, Gensler, MAK Center and Tait Towers Inc. in the competition with its emlebamic and three-dimensional work. 

Image courtesy of Tom Wiscombe Architecture

In the early 20th century, the billboard began as a large sign or three-dimensional icon, often calling attention to immediate building functions or domestic products. With the explosion of car culture and the film industry at mid-century, the billboard was transformed into something non-local, something representing filmic worlds, in wide-screen formats. 

Sunset Boulevard has played a distinct role in the evolution of the billboard, particularly in the 60’s and 70’s, with edgy content, protruding elements, and promotional appearances by music stars. The two-dimensionality of the billboard began to move towards three-dimensionality, simultaneously existing as sign and object. Tom Wiscombe's proposal aims to build on this legacy in a contemporary way, with an iconic object-billboard programmed with an unprecedented breadth of commercial, cultural, and interactive media content.

Image © Kilograph, courtesy of Tom Wiscombe Architecture

Called West Hollywood Belltower, the structure is oriented vertically in contrast to the ubiquitous flat, horizontal billboards of the Sunset Strip. In particular, it avoids the “sign-on-a-stick” billboard typology in favor of something spatial and interactive. It operates on the level of deep urban archetypes, such as ancient bell-towers, clock-towers, and obelisks, which are associated with civic space and community engagement. 

It expresses the contemporary transition from an era of centrally-controlled media empires to a time of great diversity in marketing strategies and stakeholders. It speaks to a world where commercial and cultural content can be hybridized, and media is no longer a just a way of advertising but a way of life. 

Image courtesy of Tom Wiscombe Architecture

On its diamond-like outer petals, the Belltower provides for a combination of commercial media, feed from cultural events (such as the recent Elton John/ Lady Gaga appearance at Tower Records), branding and news for the City of West Hollywood, and video art interventions curated by project partner the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA). 

This diverse range of content will be composed into a serene, and sometimes surprising, experience that is woven into the everyday life of local residents. Made of perforated metal, the outer petals feature a mix of embedded high-resolution LED technology, video projections, and theatrical lighting to allow for flexibility in programming across the day, month, and year.

Image courtesy of Tom Wiscombe Architecture

The interior space of the Belltower is vertical, immersive, and engages the public imagination. It contains a sculptural object that is programmed with interactive and trending social media. 

This object can only be glimpsed by passing drivers; it is primarily intended to engage the pedestrian scale. Pedestrians can interact with it directly via apps on their smartphones, altering patterns of light pulled from the deep web, or ‘pushing’ digitally altered media content onto it.

Image courtesy of Tom Wiscombe Architecture

The Belltower is linked to the City of West Hollywood through an inviting public square, where pedestrians can meet, relax, and play. This square can also be used for cultural events with the Belltower as a live-feed backdrop. Sitting-steps, site lighting, and drought-tolerant landscaping connect the public square to the local environment, creating a totally integrated social experience. 

Image courtesy of Tom Wiscombe Architecture

Ultimately, the significance of this project is that it will exist simultaneously in two realms: the local physical space of the Sunset Strip and the global digital space of social media. Potentially the most “Instagrammable” billboard in the world, this project will actively share the uniqueness and creativity of West Hollywood with the world.

Image courtesy of Tom Wiscombe Architecture

Project Facts

Client: City of West Hollywood
Builder/ Operator: Orange Barrel Media
Architect: Tom Wiscombe Architecture
Museum Partner: Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA)
Structural: Walter P Moore

Top image © Kilograph, courtesy of Tom Wiscombe Architecture

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