Foster Exchange

Not Just Another Brick in the Wall

When the University of Washington built the Foster School of Business, they commissioned Sticky to realize the building’s centerpiece artwork, the Foster Exchange. Communication design Professor Karen Cheng and Assistant Professor Kristine Matthews envisioned a 60-foot column that would showcase scrolling messages posted by students and faculty based on the theme “Business Is…”

Digital messages roll in like old-school ticker tape, which then jump track, jumble, and re-form to become poetry across custom non-contiguous LED displays embedded into the brickwork.

To achieve the desired level of physical integration into the architecture, Sticky designed, engineered, and built 23 custom displays in multiple sizes and shapes, keeping in mind the need for easy long-term maintenance. And on the software side, Sticky built a content management system for receiving new “Business is…” contributions, curating them, and then scheduling the display of approved messages in a variety of animation modes.