Interactive Elements Bring Vitality and Star Power of This Convergence-Based, All Music Network to The Streets of New York in First Quarter 2006
Award-Winning Firm V Studio Adds High-Tech Veneer and Utility With Times Square Energy to Landmark Art-Deco At 11 Penn Plaza
New York (March 27, 2006) – fuse, the nation's only viewer-driven, all music network, today unveiled designs for a dynamic, new facade for its television production studio at 11 Penn Plaza in Manhattan. The concept breaks down the wall between the studio and the street, with a host of structural and interactive elements that will facilitate rich interaction among musical performers, the public and the network's tech-savvy young viewers.
"fuse is the first television brand built on convergence from the ground up, where viewer input from the web, cell phones and other wireless devices is a central driver of our on-air content," said Andrea Greenberg, President of Rainbow Media Ventures.
"Our new facade is a giant, high-tech canvas upon which we project the interactive vitality and passion of fuse and its viewers," Greenberg continued. "The superstructure of light emitting diode (LED) screens will boldly showcase our logo and everything from live performances to viewer text messages at one of the most highly-trafficked corners in New York City. The structural enhancements to the building itself will break down the wall between our ground-floor studio and the street, making it possible for fans and passersby to witness live performances and personally interact with the biggest names in popular music and entertainment from just a few feet away."
"Our new outdoor face is an arresting embodiment of our unique, cross-platform mission. It is also an important new landmark and destination within the world's media capital, New York," Greenberg added.
With live shows like Daily Download, fuse invites fans to its street-front studio to witness exclusive performances and to chat with the stars. With the purest concentration of 12-34 year-old viewers in television, fuse has an incredibly tech-savvy audience, one that is fully-wired and engaged in a two-way dialogue with the network via the Internet, cell phones, pagers and other wireless devices. With other programming like Dedicate Live and the new text-tv block, fuse's young viewers use these devices to shape the play list, download music, play games and have their opinions appear on the screen during broadcasts.
fuse's unique and empowered viewers were at the heart of the innovative, tech-centric design created by the critically-acclaimed architecture firm V Studio, a division of the Walker Group. V Studio's concept marries the classic spirit of 11 Penn Plaza's 1920's architecture with visionary innovation and fluidity, creating a new language that showcases the vitality and passion of this forward-thinking music brand.
V Studio reinforces fuse's direct "unfiltered" interaction with its audience by employing a variety of state-of-the-art technologies, most evident in its dramatic, two-story superstructure of LED screens shaped to spell out F-U-S-E. This novel structure creates a powerful "marquee" for the network's logo on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street, directly across from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, one of the world's largest transportation hubs.
Elevated 23 feet in the air, projecting sixteen feet over the sidewalk and standing nine feet tall, the marquee is only the beginning of fuse studio's new high-tech veneer. Coming soon, a new type of electronic "zipper" will snake in and out of the contours of the studio's two-story window bays, down into the sidewalk and back up to the fuse marquee logo. The ticker will allow viewers and pedestrians to read e-mails, advertisements, music trivia, the music charts and "shout outs" from fuse fans.
Etched glass, light "mats" set in the sidewalk, LEDs, plasma screens and three-dimensional "light-washed" lettering are other components that emphasize the distinct identity of the fuse brand on the street. The bay windows on the studio's 7th Avenue side feature operable illuminated LED curtains that can be opened to reveal the action in the studio, including live performances. The project also created a new street-level entrance and dramatic outdoor lighting for the facility.
"We carried the spirit of fuse, its ever-changing progressive logo and willingness to rewrite the traditional rules of marketing, with us all throughout the design process," added Jay Valgora, Lead Architect and Principal of V Studio. "While other New York studio fronts lie behind glass, sometimes even above street-level, fuse is literally taking its building facade "right to the sidewalk," moving its programming, stars and even viewers one step closer out into the heart of New York."
In addition to fuse's new outdoor studio re-design, on April 1, fuse will launch another new digital attraction that will help supply content for the new facade, a technically superior, redesigned network website at www.fuse.tv. The revitalized site will include a new broadband video channel featuring interviews, clips, outtakes and live footage from a variety of fuse programming, both past and present. There will also be free weekly downloads courtesy of FYE, photo blogs and user- generated content which greatly expands the community
About fuse
fuse is the nation's only all-music, viewer-influenced television network, featuring music videos, exclusive artist interviews, live concerts and specials — all rooted in the music experience. Fuse reflects the rapidly changing interests and attitudes of its 12-34 year-old audience by uniting the media platforms at the center of their communication and entertainment – TV, Web, mobile technologies and interactive gaming and by incorporating their opinions and suggestions into the network's on-air and online programming. More information about Fuse is available at www.fuse.tv.
About V Studio
V Studio is an urban art studio and design laboratory that stands at the forefront of one of the most important new trends in architecture. Launched in 2000, V focuses on the integration of architecture and the media with a highly specialized creative approach that combines meaningful design of physical and virtual environments. Recent projects include some of New York's most luxurious and cutting-edge residential projects like 50 Murray and 88 Leonard Street in Tribeca; The Milan in the East 50's; and the upcoming River East Towers on the shores of Long Island City. Other projects include an interactive multimedia stage set for the Alvin American Dance Theater Ballet that premiered at Lincoln Center and an edgy state-of-the-art building facade for the new music channel fuse in New York City. Based in Manhattan, V is a division of WalkerGroup, a full-service architecture and interior design firm. WalkerGroup is a member of the WPP Group of companies, one of the world's largest communications services groups. It is based in New York City with an office in Los Angeles, and affiliate offices on five continents.