WASHINGTON, D.C.—LG Business Solutions has announced that the National Association of Broadcasters had integrated more than 200 cutting-edge displays from LG Business Solutions in nearly every part of its new headquarters in Washington D.C., including a 22-foot-wide by 20-foot-tall 2mm pixel pitch LG LED Signage curved video wall in the first floor lobby that’s visible from the street. 

When the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) decided to build its new headquarters on a high-traffic corner on Washington D.C.’s South Capitol Street, the premier trade association for broadcasters wanted to make a strong statement about the key role of television, radio and new media in 21st Century America.  

“We want to send a message that we represent an industry that is on the cutting edge across the board, from public policy to programming to technology,”  NAB vice president Michael Tow,Tow said. “As a facility promoting the broadcast industry to policymakers and the public, we saw a need to have a large format display in the main lobby acting as a landmark for the community that says ‘those are the broadcasters.’ With so much car and foot traffic passing by the building’s lobby windows on a daily basis, we recognized that a large curved LED Signage wall makes a powerful statement that NAB and the broadcast industry are focused on the future and utilizing the most innovative technologies available.”

As part of the installation, LG Business Solutions worked with technology solutions provider Diversified and audiovisual consultant Miller, Beam and Paganelli.

In addition to the first-floor lobby’s video wall that is designed to highlight the NAB’s mission of advocacy, education and innovation, the headquarters features a number of cutting edge technologies. 

After stepping out of the elevator into the 10th floor lobby, guests and colleagues are greeted by a transparent LG OLED video wall that allows viewers to literally see through video messaging and TV content to the extraordinary view of the nation’s capital. 

The 2x3 panel video wall, which comprises six 55-inch transparent OLED panels for a total screen size of 144 inches measured diagonally, has the capability to display live TV programming and NAB messaging as one large image or as six separate screens running different content simultaneously. The video wall is flanked by vertically mounted, 86-inch LG Ultra-Stretch displays that make an excellent canvas for meeting information, company updates and other internal communications. 

“The transparent LG OLED video wall is the kind of technology the phrase ‘show-stopper’ is meant for,” said Michael Burnstein, vice president of Diversified. “NAB and Diversified have long-running relationships with each other, as well as with LG, and after sampling the company’s latest releases and learning about specifics like pixel density and pixel pitch at InfoComm, we knew it could provide the types of eye-catching digital experiences we envisioned to highlight the headquarters while remaining cognizant of our budget and needs.”

NAB occupies six floors in total, and on floors five through nine, visitors and employees are greeted by a 65-inch 4K Ultra HD (UHD) display showing NAB messaging when they exit the elevator. 

Nearly every area and room contains digital displays, including 10 executive offices and 12 team rooms that each house a 43-inch LCD display, and a CEO Team Room that includes the same 65-inch 4K UHD model located at each floor’s elevator bank. Five conference rooms contain 65–inch 4K UHD displays, the Gordon H. Smith Conference Center (named for Sen. Smith, former NAB President & CEO) goes big with an 86–inch 4K UHD display, and the fifth floor boardroom features a huge 98-inch 4K UHD LED display.

In addition to the LED Signage and transparent OLED video walls, the 10th floor NAB Hall of Fame video wall composed of five ultra-narrow-bezel 55–inch 4K UHD LED displays arranged in a 5x1 configuration, shows highlights from the colorful history of broadcasting. The Multi-Purpose Room is also on the 10th floor, in which another LG LED Signage video wall provides a bezel-free 1.8mm pixel pitch UHD display that’s 32 feet wide and six feet tall. 

NAB’s fitness center utilizes two 55-inch LCD displays, and the Cafe on the ninth floor features nine 55-inch UHD LED monitors. The IT Counter-Intelligence Center has three 49-inch LCD displays. In two Project Rooms and the Conventions Open Team Room, NAB chose to install LG’s 65-inch Interactive Digital Boards, enabling workers to save and share meeting information, present multiple images or pieces of information with the ability to edit it on-screen, and even provide webOS™ 3.0 collaboration options that don’t require a PC.

Yet another video wall is located in the fifth-floor Technology Showcase, using four 55-inch 0.44mm bezel monitors to create a 2x2 video wall. 

The headquarters also has 150 34-inch curved ultra-wide LG monitors on desks of NAB employees.

“From an architectural standpoint, we wanted to merge the interior technology with the building’s excellent views of the Capitol, as well as create public visibility from outside the building,” said John Paganelli, principal at Miller, Beam and Paganelli. “Once we saw and experienced LG’s transparent OLED technology, we knew it would make an excellent showcase piece and help achieve the futuristic digital aesthetic NAB strived for. From there, we recognized the impact a large lobby display could have in such a high-traffic area and determined that LG’s curved LED Signage technology was the most impressive way to attract the public’s eye.”

To watch a video of the headquarters, click here. 

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has completed another step in its process of moving its headquarters closer to Capitol Hill and the thriving Washington neighborhood near Nationals Park baseball stadium and the developing waterfront Wharf area.

But there is still some uncertainty about whether the move will bring it much closer to the Federal Communications Commission's headquarters, which may be moving, too.

On Monday, papers were filed at the District of Columbia Recorder of Deeds showing that 1M Properties LLC (a wholly-owned subsidiary of NAB) has acquired the 130,000-square-foot building, which is located at 1 M St. SE, for $62.76 million (about $483 per square foot).

An NAB spokesperson confirmed that the transaction was consummated now because the contractor Monument Realty has completed its work on the building. The interior architecture firm will now handle construction of office spaces, with an eye toward moving into the building in early 2020. The transaction has been in progress for more than four years.

NAB sold its current building near the Dupont Circle area in Washington in March 2018 for $31.6 million, and has leased it since then while awaiting completion of its new headquarters. The new structure has nearly twice the space of NAB's 50-year old iconic curved building at 1771 N St. NW. For many decades, the NAB offices were about four blocks away from the Federal Communications Commission, until the agency moved in 1997 (after a long controversial delay) to The Portals complex in southwest D.C.

NAB's new headquarters will put it closer to Capitol Hill and also closer to agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the current FCC offices, although there has been speculation for several years that the FCC is seeking to move from its Portals venue. The Commission has considered a move into a new building just north of the Capitol in a neighborhood called "Swampoodle," which is the home of several other federal agencies and National Public Radio, among others. The General Services Administration will be involved in any FCC move, and such action appears to be facing the long delays that preceded its 1997 relocation.