TAO
Client
Tao Group
Location
New York, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
Sector
Hospitality
Commercial Environments
Size
22,000 sqft
TAO Downtown is a two-story restaurant, bar and lounge in the former ballroom spaces of New York’s Maritime Hotel. We designed five animations for the 20-foot-tall, custom Quan Yin statue that sits front and center in the restaurant.
The technology enables the statue to transform before guests throughout the evening, creating the seamless illusion of movement under a veil of projected animation.
We created custom mapping software that seamlessly wraps the 3D sculpture with 2D digital content. The Quan Yin's narrative comes to life over the course of the night through materials, form and content. Custom 3D printing and software created a seamless map from the animations to the physical form.
Our projection design was also incorporated into both the LA and Chicago TAO Group restaurants.
Rich narrative stories unfold over the course of the evening, bringing delight and surprise as birds gently rest on the Quan Yin's arms, robes sway in the wind, and eyes blink open and close—as if awakening in the night.
Selected Press
02/04/2015, Design Contract — “We wiped the slate clean, and together with Rockwell Group, created something fresh, sexy, and breathtakingly beautiful.”
12/15/2014, IDA Design Awards — Winner
09/10/2014, Metropolis — The Rockwell Way
04/01/2014, Contract Magazine — Rockwell Group designs a restaurant in which to see and be seen in New York
01/06/2014, Architizer — A Gotham Speakeasy With An Asian Sensibility