Dolby has continually redefined how we experience media, transforming audio, voice, and visual landscapes over the past 50 years. Their 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 was an audio-visual installation created by myself and Ryan McGee for Dolby’s new global headquarters. It lived inside the Dolby Gallery on a stunning 80-foot, super high-resolution LED screen that spans the lobby. The installation reflected Dolby’s pioneering spirit and its mission to provide artists with the tools to elevate their craft.

Concourse explored 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 was a digital portal to a synthetic world, slowly revealing an evolving terrain. The installation took 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 shifted and transformed, so did their spatialized sounds, generated and modulated in real-time to evoke a sense of organic presence.

At night the installation shifted 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 merged harmoniously and created an immersive experience that explored beauty, organic motion, and the interplay of geometry, mathematics, physics, light, and sound. Ultimately, Concourse was an artistic exploration of virtual worlds, sonification, and color, celebrating the art of pushing the boundaries between the real and the surreal.