Tumblr

Tumblr, the Internet titan that hosts over 243 million blogs, has been headquartered in the Flatiron neighborhood of New York since 2010. After its most recent expansion into the ground floor, the company now occupies over 50,000 square feet in the building. PPI handled the audiovisual design and integration for the ground floor space.

The 5,000 square foot multi-purpose event space is designed for a number of different uses: all-staff meetings, smaller ad-hoc meetings, and meals take place there during the day, and after hours events and hackathons are regularly hosted there during the evening. PPI designed a broad system to accommodate all of these events, putting an emphasis on both the audio and video wow-factor as well as simple end-user control. A 20,000 lumens, 3-chip projector shines onto a 226” screen as the visual focal point for all events, and two additional screens function as presenter confidence monitors. Four high definition, pan tilt zoom cameras are installed around the room for full coverage for video conferencing and streaming. A theater-quality speaker system provides the entire space with high-level sound for after hours parties; a multi-channel, digital wireless microphone system can be routed to the same system for all-staff presentations. An operator station features an audio mixing board and camera control console for more dynamic live events, and a Crestron touch panel provides full system end user control for simpler meetings.

With this ground floor AV system, Tumblr will see quick returns on investment in multiple capacities. Large-scale audio and video teleconferencing and streaming capabilities reduce travel costs; an emphasis on well-trained operators running live-event systems increases presentation efficiency; the simplicity of the Crestron control system for ad-hoc meetings increases user comfort and thus system use; lastly, an attractive event space increases the Tumblr reputation and makes the new ground floor an in-demand location.