John F. Kennedy International Airport’s international arrivals terminal, Terminal 4, has completed the latest phase of a multi-year project to install a number of large-format NanoLumens LED displays that make cutting-edge technology central to the passenger experience. According to Paul Kline, Senior Vice President of Business Development at digital solutions integrator Creative Realities, Inc. (CRI), the terminal’s private owners at JFK International Air Terminal, LLC (JFKIAT), wanted to bring the terminal into the 21st century, and they knew that meant specifying NanoLumens’ striking displays, including curved and double-sided models.
“More than twenty million people come through JFK’s Terminal 4 each year,” Kline said, “so the advertising and exposure opportunities are enormous. JFKIAT wanted to create a new terminal experience that leverages modern technology while providing concrete benefits for their business and for passengers.”
Following the installation of its first NanoLumens display in 2017 – a double-sided, 30-foot-wide, 3mm pixel pitch curved model – Terminal 4 continued the technological upgrade with a new 40-foot-wide curved display that is used exclusively for advertising, focusing on the terminal’s shops in its retail corridor (pictured). The new display has been designed to conform to the existing architecture, and it appears as though it’s native and organic to the interior space. It’s affixed to an overhead wall that travelers pass under as they walk through the terminal. Complementary ceiling adornments bring the entire space together in a way that lifts the eye up and creates an immersive, design-forward atmosphere that is both commercial and artistic.
While the displays are certainly moneymakers for the terminal and its advertising agency, Kline said that JFKIAT was also excited and eager to add glamour and technological excitement to the terminal experience. Terminal 4 now presents a stark contrast with the more traditional terminals in the rest of the airport, which are managed by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. Terminal 4 is the only privately-owned airport terminal in the United States.
“They needed something commensurate with their position on the world stage, and they understood that NanoLumens’ wealth of knowledge, experience, and ability to design custom-curved LED displays to nearly any specification would result in a world-class presentation,” Kline said. “After the two curved displays, we moved on to upgrade the terminal’s proverbial ‘over the escalator’ advertising with another 2.5mm pixel pitch NanoLumens display that ensures crystal clear video playback and visibility from every angle and distance.”
JFKIAT wanted NanoLumens from the get-go, as the Georgia-based company is widely seen as the world-leader in custom shaped and curved large-format LED displays. After initiating the project, NanoLumens tapped the experienced professionals at Creative Realities, who have worked with NanoLumens products many times, to manage the actual integration.
“Airports around the world are reimagining their digital infrastructure to reflect the modern world, and with the help of CRI and visionary airport partners like JFKIAT, NanoLumens is proud to play a leading role in that transformation,” said NanoLumens Regional Sales Director Dana Michaelis.
All of the NanoLumens displays benefit from the manufacturer’s breakthrough design, which utilizes “Nixels”, small panels of pixels that fit together to form the display, enabling vastly simpler installations and maintenance than single-screen designs. Other important features for airport usage are the unrivaled six-year warranty, tuneable brightness that can shine brightly even in direct sunlight, and superior off-axis viewing angles that ensure every viewer sees what the content designer intended.
NanoLumens displays are application specific and purpose-built, designed to solve the unique challenges of each application with minimum impact on infrastructure. That means clients have infinite degrees of freedom when designing their next marquee digital installation. The manufacturer offers unique form factors, plus straightforward and uncomplicated mounting capabilities that require no additional mounts and have no hidden costs.
Thanks to NanoLumens’ state-of-the-art design process, and patented frame-and-skin topology with variable frame registration, each display’s Nixels™ float unregistered on their framework, allowing for free-form curvatures and industry-leading LED board-to-board tolerance and uniformity.