Nespresso NYC

Brief and site condition

The Nespresso flagship on 5th Avenue needed an interactive installation that felt continuous and distinct, responded to visitor presence without becoming a literal interface, and avoided canned video loops.

Computer vision for retail interaction

A discreet sensing layer reads how people move through the space and translates that choreography into subtle forces within a fluid simulation. The content never truly repeats. As visitors draw closer, their presence gains weight, allowing them to steer the liquid motion nearby. Ripples, drifting trails, and soft wake patterns linger briefly before merging back into the whole.

Coffee and cream form a slow visual language that continuously emerges and dissolves, functioning as a digital painting in motion shaped by the room.

Credits

Refractiv
Interactive system and real-time generative visual design, media architecture, and technical consulting, including hardware specification, sensor layout, on-site implementation and calibration, fluid simulation, system integration, interactive programming, and creative direction.

Bartolini/Lanzi Architects
Architecture and Interior Design

Stingray and Commersive Solutions
Project lead, initial concept and pitch, and AV integration.

Photography
Courtesy of Nespresso USA.