Dallas DXC
The Dallas DIRTT Experience Center (DXC) is DIRTT’s 14,000 square foot home in Texas and the base of the US operations. The project was a full interior build-out and completed in October of 2021. I was responsible for ensuring the project met both the needs of DIRTT’s Dallas-based employees and also reflected the direction the brand would be heading in the years to come. The overarching goal was to cultivate experiences in the DXC that would connect employees, partners, and customers to the DIRTT story.
In the creation of the Dallas DXC, inspiration came from the natural landscape of the region. Working with architect Gensler, we integrated elements that uniquely spoke to the world just outside our walls. From the generous use of timber throughout the space, to the incorporation of raw stone in our welcome area, we made conscious decisions to bring the outside in. In creating a collaborative space that cultivates ideas and eliminates boundaries, the wide-open landscape of Texas was a cornerstone for project inspiration.
The space in the DXC that presented the most enticing opportunity for brand storytelling was the VR Lounge, located just off of reception. This space is used to immerse customers in DIRTT’s ICE Reality experience, giving them the ability to virtually walk through their interior space before it’s been completed. Our challenge was to find a way to visually express the boundaries between the real world and the virtual world to reinforce this critical part of DIRTT’s value proposition.
The VR Lounge was surrounded on two sides by DIRTT’s double pane glass wall system. We sought to use the two panes of glass to illustrate the digital / virtual divide via a compelling, large scale artwork. My team commissioned a photographer to capture several different panoramic landscapes across Texas. We selected a shot we felt would be most compelling and affixed it to the back pane of glass. Next, we converted that same image to a low fidelity pixelization and hand selected which pixels we would pull forward to place on the front pane of glass. Using a transparent print process we were able to create a multi-layered, backlit supergraphic across two walls of the VR lounge.
Not only are visitors to the space drawn into the lounge space as they enter the DXC but we also made it that much easier for our sales team to speak to the role that virtual reality and digital design plays across the DIRTT construction system.
When it came time to capture the completed space. We hired James John Jetel as our photographer to help tell the story of DIRTT’s Dallas home. We looked to capture the energy of the space with a professional and enthusiastic tone through bright imagery that expresses the details and textures of each environment along with subtle use of narrative in each shot.
