‘The View’ transforms with dynamic, adaptable set in move to new Hudson Square facility

ABC’s long-running daytime talk show, “The View,” has moved into a brand-new, state-of-the-art broadcast facility in New York City’s Hudson Square neighborhood. The move has provided the show with a unique opportunity to redesign its set from the ground up, embracing cutting-edge technology to create a dynamic and versatile environment that can transform to suit any occasion or hot topic.

“We had this chance, this clean slate, to start from scratch,” said Seth Easter, senior production designer at ABC News and ABC Daytime. “You’ll notice that the new set is very video-heavy. The request was the ability to have an environment that could change easily from show to show.”

‘The View’ goes ‘SoHo Vogue’ with move to Hudson Square

The move to Hudson Square

The relocation is part of Wal Disney’s consolidation and broadcast facility upgrade in New York City, which will replace its current facility in the Lincoln Square neighborhood and touch properties including ABC News, daytime programming and WABC. The move to 7 Hudson Square modernizes the show’s physical space and production capabilities.

Being the first show to move into the new building presented opportunities and challenges.

“It’s been such a challenge just because we’re in a new studio, but not just in a new studio, we’ve got new equipment, we’ve got things that we have never had before at ABC,” said Sarah de la O, the show’s director. “It’s always amazing to be the first at anything… we get to make it our own and then kind of lead the way for all the other teams coming in here. So it’s been an amazing process. We’ve had all the resources to help us get through it.”

“It was still under construction when we were loading in,” Easter explained. “They hadn’t even finished the grid work or a lot of the structure when we were finishing our design.”

Despite these hurdles, the timing allowed the production team to collaborate closely with the construction crews.

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“It was helpful to start with set construction while the construction crews were still there,” he said. “If we needed additional power added or whatever, we could get it, and it wasn’t such a heavy lift as it is in an existing studio.”

Creating a dynamic set design

Adaptability is at the heart of the new “View” set design. The production team wanted a space easily transformed to reflect different seasons, themes or special events.

“It’s extremely dynamic,” Easter said. “If you’ve walked into an award show or any major live event nowadays, or even a concert and you turn off all the LED screens and everything goes black, that’s kind of how this space feels.”

The set features an impressive array of LED screens, ranging in pixel pitch from 1.25 mm to 1.5 mm, with a 3.9 mm LED floor and some 5.6 mm screens in select areas.

“Everything is basically run by graphics. Everything that you’re looking at is a monitor, everything,” de la O said.

“Screen-wise, we have 28 different screens,” Easter detailed, noting that the screens were designed to feature architectural elements via virtual set extensions. The floor LED, for example, displays a herringbone wood pattern while header elements display a faux wood plank.

This extensive use of LED technology allows the show’s graphics team to create immersive environments that can change at the click of a button.

“We have a whole team of graphics that just builds kind of scenic elements for screens,” Easter explained. “They’re able to create depth in these screens, so you can, with the click of a button, go from the normal set to a basketball court on the floor.”

All the LED display technology was custom-built for the show and supplied by Fuse Technical Group and DetaiLED Solutions.

“We have 10,700 tiles in that space,” Easter said. “There’s 674 million pixels in that space, so it’s a lot of LED.”

To manage this immense amount of screen real estate, the team employed the NovaStar MX6000 processing system, with an XPression Tessera system from Ross Video handling the templates for the screens.

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In addition to advanced screens, the set also features several moveable and mechanical elements to enhance its versatility. Movable columns with video screens can track on and off stage, and a giant staircase mounted on air casters can be repositioned or moved offstage entirely.

While much of the set is new, one familiar element remains—the iconic table where the hosts gather.

“That was the one thing we didn’t update because we had just redone that table… and we kind of used that table as a jumping-off point for the look of the current set,” said Easter.

“If you look at that table going back, we made it fit with the old set, but this is kind of where that color tone and that palette is kind of what we used to give us the design DNA for this new look,” he added.

A larger studio upgrade

Beyond the set itself, Studio B at Hudson Square offers numerous improvements over the previous home of “The View.”

“It’s all new lights, of course, which is great—all LED fixtures,” Easter noted. 

The building features large elevators capable of transporting scenery, spacious green rooms, dressing rooms and modernized control rooms.

“There’s three giant studios downstairs that kind of mimic this studio, and that’s where the other shows will come from,” Easter said. “To say state-of-the-art is to understate what’s been done in this facility.”

The audience experience has also been enhanced. The studio can accommodate about 150 people, maintaining a similar capacity to the previous location but offering improved amenities and accessibility. 

Transitioning to the new facility was not without its difficulties, however, this relocation did have more time than previous set upgrades. 

“Time was on our side in this case,” Easter remarked. “Many times when we redo the set, we only have a hiatus to do it in. Having the amount of time we had allowed us to drill down and really get exactly what the show needed and wanted out of the space.”

“Everything we built is a little bit future-proof in case we needed to throw something else in there in the future,” Easter explained. “The construction techniques we used allowed us to make some changes going into the future that wouldn’t be hard for us to adapt.”

This foresight ensures that “The View” can continue to evolve its set to meet changing needs without requiring a complete overhaul.

“It’s a bit of a dream to walk into a new space and have exactly what you needed,” Easter reflected. 

Project credits

• Production and Set Design – Seth Easter
• Associate Designer – Michael Moore
• Art Direction – Richard Nocera
• Associate Art Director – Michael Petersen
• Screen Graphics – Brandon Bell and Amanda Kmett’Pendry
• Scenic Fabrication – Allsorts and Showman Fabricators
• LED Integration – Fuse Technical Group
• Lighting Design – Jim Gallagher