The Decision, The Budget, and The Design
The Decision
I was in talks for a few months with the Facilities team at Facebook New York to see if we could put up walls to enclose the Empire Set space. However, the teams in the surrounding work areas fought against that choice for various reasons. After a lot of deliberation with the cross-functional teams that used the space, I decided to shut down the Empire Set due to issues we encountered with the space, and give it back to the Facebook Facilities team to repurpose the footprint for more conference rooms with glass walls, which were an impacted and high-demand resource at the Facebook New York office. This decision was difficult because we were losing a huge footprint in the office, something that was hard to come by outright.
It was agreed upon that we should move all video production into the enclosed Studio City room. We also decided to repurpose the FBMC Oculus room and turn it into the Green Room for inbound guests and their entourages.
From here, I worked with the Media Partnerships team to acquire budget to redesign the sets. Once we determined the budget needed, I sourced two vendors to create designs for the Studio and Green Room. I, then, worked to gather feedback from all of the Facebook clients to ensure their needs and the needs of their Partners were met.
The Design: Studio Sets
With this feedback and the budget, I worked Sets and Effects for studio set design would include the following sets:
- A faux brick wall to be used a generic backdrop
- A faux window backed by RGB LED lighting
- A speaker wall for our Music Partners
- A library for our Author Partners
- A speakeasy bar that swivels out of the library set
- A generic wooden pattern
Rendering courtesy of: Sets and Effects
Rendering courtesy of: Sets and Effects
Rendering courtesy of: Sets and Effects
Rendering courtesy of: Sets and Effects
All of these sets were to maximize every inch of the very small space of 16'20'!
The Design: Green Room
For the green room, we needed something that delighted our clients and partners and comfortable enough to hold product meetings. I decided that the room should be turned into a faux New York rooftop and ensured that there was enough seating for larger entourages. I worked with Mt. Vernon Entertainment to see this room come to life.
Rendering courtesy of: Mt. Vernon Entertainment
Renderings courtesy of: Mt. Vernon Entertainment