7 Challenges in building successful LED Media Facade

With a good led media facade, we can express the characteristics of the building much better and help build its brand.

There are several big challenges for building a good led media facade on the existing architectures.

Because each building has its own characteristics, especially for iconic buildings whose unique design has a special meaning, such as brand history or local culture.

In addition, some buildings have peculiar surface designs, special facade materials as well as non-standard dimensions, etc., which can lead to some difficulties in finding a great idea to express the design and simplify installation.

Let’s walk through the main challenges below.

1, Seamless integration of the led media facade into the environment and the building

First of all, when designing a media facade, we must not spoil the original style of architecture.

If the LED facade does not integrate well with the façade of the building, the led facade will be separated from the environment.

In this case, it would be a traditional LED screen wall that is only used to play advertising content, and when turned off, it becomes a cold and dark rectangular area.

There was no aesthetic feeling at all. We don’t want to build such a media facade.

Thus, the first challenge is that the design of an LED media facade should be in harmony with the environment, original design, and the original structure of the facade.

2, Inventing new led facade elements as part of building materials

Sometimes, customers want to keep100% of the original façade structure of the building.

All the media facade parts must be hidden inside, including the cables and controllers.

The challenge is to create the LED media facade elements that will become part of building materials.

For example, LED façade pixels have been integrated into an aluminum cladding plate as building materials.

It is a complete integration of a dynamic LED facade screen into the architecture.

3, Covering multi-dimensional or irregular surface

The facade of a building is not always just a flat surface.

Sometimes it is a three-dimensional surface, and sometimes it is irregular, like a triangle or curved style.

So the LED media facade needs to be flexible and customizable in order to wrap the area perfectly.

4, Not blocking the outside sunlight entering inside and inside residents watching the outside

People love sunlight and enjoy the outside view when staying in a tall building.

LED media facades are usually very large, over hundreds or thousands of square meters.

Therefore, the LED facade screen is better with the highest possible transparency when covering a large format area above the glass wall of a skyscraper.

But some media façade products will be more difficult to install and maintain if they strive for high transparency.

It is very important to choose a user-friendly LED facade with enough transparency.

5, Finding a good balance between transparency and screen pixel pitch

There is a natural conflict between transparency and pixel pitch on an LED media facade screen.

Smaller pixel pitch means higher resolution, which allows more detailed images to be displayed on the wall.

But it has more pixels in the area and lower transparency.

Pixel pitch is also related to viewing distance. A smaller pixel pitch has a closer optimal viewing distance.

We need to find the best balance between transparency and pixel pitch.

Get the highest transparency as long as the meaningful images can be recognized from the optimal viewing distance.

6, Using a durable led media facade for permanent installation

You should choose a durable LED façade when permanently installing an outdoor LED façade.

Instability means more money wasted.

There are some parameters that need to be seriously checked to ensure its longevity.

IP67 WATERPROOF

IP65 rainproof is safe for outdoor LED displays.

Considering that unexpected water accumulations and snowfalls can occur on the walls of buildings in winter, it is best to request products with an IP67 rating.

The IP67 LED facade has the better outdoor water resistance.

APPLICABLE WORKING TEMPERATURE

Normal working temperature is -20 ℃ ~ + 50 ℃.

But when it comes to extremely cold weather in some places, the environment temperatures will be -30 or -40 ℃. While in a very hot place, like in the Middle East, summer temperatures can rise to + 60 ℃.

So the working temperature should be at least -40 ℃ ~ + 60 ℃.

And in some places, there is a very big change in temperature from daytime to nighttime.

It is therefore important for the operating temperature to consider the lowest and highest conditions as well as the rate of temperature change.

WIND-RESISTANT

For traditional outdoor LED digital signage, we didn’t think much about wind strength.

When it comes to installing a media facade on the surface of a skyscraper, the wind at a height of hundreds of meters can reach 100 km / h or more.

Wind-resistance is something that we must also consider.

UV RESISTANT

Long exposure to sunlight, UV resistance is required.

WITHSTANDING SPECIAL WEATHER

There are special weather conditions for a particular region.

Special treatments will be used in planning and installation, such as protection against salinization by the sea, protection against sand in the desert.

LESS POWER CONSUMPTION

LEDs are an energy-efficient light source.

But if you are using millions of LED pixels in a large format media facade design, the power consumption has become very high.

And if you want to compete with sunlight throughout the day, the LED facade will be designed with brighter pixels or higher resolution. It will also increase consumption.

Try to reduce the energy consumption of your LED façades.

7, Picking right media content is very important for a successful media facade

Picking the right media content is also very important in creating a successful led media facade.

Because the video content can tell stories, make landscapes, and also reflect the relationship between architecture and the surrounding environment.

When designing the video content, we mainly consider three parts: brand culture, facade shape, and the environment.

Therefore, we better ask questions:

• How to perfectly match the content with the building?  
• Which is the best way to highlight the building’s characteristics?
• Which is the tone of the surrounding environments?
• How to engage with the communities and pedestrians?

Providing best answers requires designers with a lot of expertise in architecture and urban space, as well as LED facade technology.

The video production is better in parallel with the planning of led media facade.

It will be too late if think about the video content after the media facade type has been chosen. Then the content would be limited.

Poor content will affect people’s perception of the building.

Instead, successful content will grab the attention of the pedestrians, allow residents to feel a personal connection with the building, benefits the proprietors from the advertising, and enhance the relationships between viewers and building.

In addition, the unique experience will remain in people’s memory for a long time. This led media facade thereby turns the building decorated with media facade into a landmark!