Empire State Building Visitor Experience

A Massive project to completely overhaul the visitor experience of one of New York City’s most beloved iconic destinations, the ESB. The scope of this project involved an entire new design to increase visitor engagement while creating a lifelong memorable experience for all.

80th floor

The team at Maltbie had a massive undertaking with all the exhibits at the ESB and the 80th floor was no exception. Featuring multiple ceiling hung exhibits, “Scenes of NYC” and “NYC Above & Beyond” are two of the larger area’s I had the pleasure of being directly involved with.

Scenes of NYC was my main project from design concept all the way through on site installation. Many hours of design revisions, ceiling mounting methods, CNC & waterjet programs, lighting, logistics and installation methods went into the planning of this exhibit. It’s one project I can humbly, proudly, and gratefully had the opportunity to work on.

NYC Above & Beyond was a team effort to bring design to reality featuring interactive touch screens within moving blades that guest and plan their visits on. Consisting of carpentry, metal work, interactives & electronics, and rigging.

The remainder of my involvement on the 80th floor included additional drafting coordination support ensuring all art deco architectural details were fabricated smoothly per our shop drawings.

2nd floor

The 2nd floor is a guest first foray into all the ESB has to offer through various high end & engageable exhibits. Here visitors will learn of the vast and rich history of the ESB. Here I had the opportunity to have a hand in every area on the 2nd floor.

Visitors will immediately be greeted with interactive survey markers to being lead into a construction zone that mimics what it was like when the building was first erected. Beyond what visitors can see, I was able to generate the construction documents & drawings for the suspended ceiling in this area helping create an immersive atmosphere.

Beyond the casework and content displays I provided drawings for, we’re lead into a faux Elevator Experience that I and a coworker brought to life. This was a tag team effort where he developed shop drawings based on the design and I provided support pulling CNC parts and generating assembly drawings. Showcase various disciplines in the detailing of this exhibit from carpentry, architectural casework, metal work, electronic interactives, etc.

Part of the rich history of the ESB is it’s role in pop culture showing up in shows and movies over the decades. This is prominently shown in the rest of the exhibits on the second floor. I was involved with the detailing of artifact casework and display monitor housings, as well as the exhibit everyone loves the most, King Kong!