Dolby has continually redefined how we experience media, transforming audio, voice, and visual landscapes over the past 50 years. Their new headquarters at 1275 Market Street stands as a testament to this legacy, symbolizing Dolby’s relentless pursuit of innovation and its desire to remain at the forefront of technological advancement. The expansive lobby is more than just an entrance—it is a blank canvas meant to set the tone for visitors, employees, and the broader public. It serves as a window into Dolby’s very soul, offering a glimpse into the essence of its creative and technical spirit.

Concourse is an audio-visual installation created by myself and Ryan McGee for Dolby’s new global headquarters. It lives inside the Dolby Gallery on a stunning 80-foot, super high-resolution LED screen that spans the lobby. The installation reflects Dolby’s pioneering spirit and its mission to provide artists with the tools to elevate their craft.

Concourse explores serenity and surrealism. Inspired by the ethereal beauty of the Bay Area’s mountains, fog, and ocean, the piece captures the tranquil and mystical nature of these landscapes. By day, Concourse acts as a digital portal to a synthetic world, slowly revealing an evolving terrain. The installation takes viewers on a journey through this tranquil space, where dynamic creatures—abstract shapes and sonic entities—move across the landscape, producing soundscapes that resonate through the physical space. As these creatures shift and transform, so do their spatialized sounds, generated and modulated in real-time to evoke a sense of organic presence.

By night, the installation shifts its focus. The luminous LED screen becomes a canvas for minimal, abstract, monochromatic light patterns—visual ‘notes’ that dance rhythmically across the display. This transformation evokes a feeling of intimacy and stillness, inviting viewers to engage with its quiet intensity.

The generative visuals and spatialized synthetic sounds of Concourse merge harmoniously, creating an immersive experience that is as much about visual music as it is about serene landscapes. It is an exploration of beauty, organic motion, and the interplay of geometry, mathematics, physics, light, and sound. Ultimately, Concourse is an artistic meditation on virtual worlds, sonification, and emotion, celebrating the art of pushing the boundaries between the real and the surreal.

TAGS: DAY&NIGHT MONOCHROMAGIC GENERATIVE ORGANIC ANIMATION GEOMETRICAL OP ART SPATIAL SONIFICATION, VISUAL MUSIC SERENITY, SURREAL, OCEAN, MOUNTAINS, FOG

Research & Development Imagery of Generative Mountain Generation & Real-Time Shading via GLSL (show below). 

Client: Dolby Laboratories
Visual Designer & Developer: Reza Ali
Sound Designer & Engineer: Ryan McGee
Art Curators: Kevin Byrd & Allie Bashuk
Dolby Creative Directors: James Butler & Kevin Byrd
Head of Production: John Loose
Documentary Video: Jordan Weill 
Output: Real-time Audio-Video Installation & Custom Software (C++, Cinder, GLSL, Spatial Audio)
Duration: 2 Month
Year: 2015