Uber wanted to create an interactive lobby experience in their new headquarters in Mission Bay, San Francisco.
Merl worked with HUSH Studios in Brooklyn, NY to realize Uber's project.
Uber wanted to put their employees and visitors through a brief journey into the scale and scope of their story.
The opportunity space was focused on the waiting area in their lobby and could extend multiple floors up into the atrium space.
Uber’s mission statement is stated: to bring transportation — for everyone, everywhere. We looked to break down the story into three distinct parts in order to illustrate the vast and varying verticals, interactions, and opportunities that Uber facilitates.
The first idea that we floated to Uber involved a proximal experience. Visitors would be enticed to move deeper into the experiential space since their movement directly affected the visual content within the activation.
Visitors are prompted to traverse between the three stages of the Uber narrative. As they moved closer, the story would transform from a global perspective to a regional view, all the way down to a personal driver partner story.
The second idea we had involved creating an experience which utilised fluidity as a visual metaphor to convey the complex network of movement, journeys, and pathways that Uber facilitates.
Visitors would walk towards the experience, trigger the interactive LED panels, and activate Uber’s content. Depending on where they are relative to the experience guests would access driver partner stories, learn about Uber’s latest mobility projects, or view the constant stream of Uber’s many data points spanning across the globe.
The team felt this idea carried the most potential since water, fluidity, and liquid could be conveyed in such varied ways. That and the fact that the concept evoked the most amount of movement meant that Stream was the idea that Uber decided to go ahead with.
Using Uber's wealth of content, we excitingly began to experiment with the various materials and digital manifestations that could be communicated within the lobby space.
Combining Two Concepts
Following reviews with Uber, the decision was to combine the best of both Zoom and Stream concepts to create a dynamic and fluid interactive experience.
Our architectural designers decided we should cover the lobby space with LED powered tubes. The tubes allowed for text and image content to flow freely through the space in varying fidelities.
Though the LED tubes were rigid, we wanted the content within to behave like a fluid. Content would come in from one end of the lobby to the other – beginning as loose particles that then coalesce. This composition created a compelling effect that translated well for both abstract moving patterns and video footage.
The Stream’s physical hardware and front-end visualization systems were designed for productization, modularity, and scalability. Following the deployment of The Stream in San Francisco, we scaled the work to Uber talent hubs in Dallas, Amsterdam, Chicago, and Mexico City. This system allows operations teams in Uber’s headquarters to distribute and evolve core storytelling across offices in real-time, encouraging a deep connection between global employees and the universal brand mission.
© Merl Studios & HUSH Studios 2022