JHD creates ‘super’ flexible, versatile compound for Fox

To create the “super” sized look for this seasons Super Bowl, Fox Sports worked with JHD Group to develop a compound that served as both a working broadcasting facility with four studios and interactive attraction.

The centerpiece of the compound was a miniature football field surrounded by four LED towers set up on Houston’s Discovery Green park.

Two of these towers could be used as “virtual goalposts” for the faux field but were also used to show topical graphics, team logos and other imagery on camera, while also providing information and visuals to passersby.

Clustered around the field were three studios for use by Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, Fox News, Fox Business and local affiliate hits. 

The largest of the spaces, Studio A, was envisioned as a massive 40-foot glass cube flanked with LED towers and headers to create a large, open space for broadcasting, explained Greg Arther of JHD Group.

“The goal was for the glass box to function as a clean and modern structure,” he said.

The structure echoed the LED tower look to frame the studio’s sides and top and also gave Fox the opportunity to deliver dynamic graphical and video visuals to crowds gathered in the compound, including video loops, a kickoff countdown and other content.

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The studio was also designed with trackable glass panels so it could become completely enclosed, a must given the uncertainty of weather conditions.

Earlier in the week before the Super Bowl, the panels were used thanks to windy and cooler weather that passed through the city — but the ultimate goal was always to do as much as possible without the glass, said Arther.

Above the studio’s lighting trusswork was a large, open space occupied by a large Fox Sports logo that was visible from throughout the compound.