The iconic façade of the FIESP building on Avenida Paulista in São Paulo, Brazil—home to Latin America’s largest open-air digital art gallery—has been entirely transformed. ON, the international audiovisual technology company behind the original installation in 2012, has completed a sweeping technological overhaul of the SESI Digital Gallery, replacing the previous 26,000 LED dots with more than 120,000 newly engineered units. The result: a fourfold increase in resolution and more than ten times the brightness, offering a dramatically enhanced visual experience to millions who pass by each year.

More than a feat of engineering, the SESI Digital Gallery is a curated space dedicated to artistic expression. It serves to showcase digital artworks and video art by invited artists, exhibit cultural and experimental audiovisual content, and function as a platform for urban visual communication. Crucially, it reinforces FIESP’s role as a supporter of culture and innovation in Brazil.

The FIESP building—an emblem of Brazilian modernist and brutalist architecture—famously appears to float above Paulista Avenue. At night, its trapezoidal steel façade transforms into a monumental digital canvas. ON’s renovation involved replacing the entire digital skin with around 120,000 newly designed LED dots, each installed by hand with architectural precision across 2,818 square meters, making it one of the largest permanent LED art installations in the world.

The new system raises maximum brightness from 45 to 471 cd/m² and increases resolution from 221 x 170 to 480 x 322 dots. Color reproduction has expanded from 68 billion to over 281 trillion possibilities, thanks to 16-bit RGB processing.

Each dot operates at 24 volts (compared to 5 volts previously), greatly improving efficiency and stability. The sealed architecture of the new system, with groups of 40 dots connected in weatherproof units, dramatically reduces the risk of failure from oxidation or contact wear—an important consideration given São Paulo’s demanding climate.

“Our goal was to raise performance without compromising the building’s architecture,” said Hugo Rodrigues, CEO of ON. “We had to develop a structure that was lighter, more powerful, and nearly invisible from a distance.”

Tailored to Complexity

The upgrade presented major engineering challenges. The FIESP façade’s distinctive geometry with its honeycomb-like structure and strict weight limitations required every bracket and connection to be custom designed. The installation, executed dot by dot —entirely by hand— beginning in January 2025, demanded months of meticulous manual work, often under tough weather conditions and at height. Engineers had to devise new mounting strategies, pixel-mapping systems, and control logic to handle the complex trapezoidal geometry of the building.

“Installing this many dots on such a challenging structure was like assembling a giant instrument,” said Rodrigues. “We needed to respect the architecture while making the technology almost invisible.”

One of the critical breakthroughs was the development of a custom pixel mapping system tailored to the building’s unique contours. Traditional video mapping methods were incompatible with the trapezoidal geometry. ON reprogrammed the control boxes so each segment of the façade could correctly interpret and display content—allowing for seamless playback of audiovisual artworks across the irregular surface.

“We had to teach the building how to ‘read’ the video data in a new way,” Rodrigues explained. “Now, each control box understands its exact starting point, which enables pixel-perfect alignment with the architecture.”

Content delivery and control have also been significantly upgraded. The new system is managed via a centralized controller that processes real-time video inputs through HDMI, DVI, or DisplayPort, converting them into DMX protocol signals for precise playback across the building’s irregular façade. ON developed a fully customized pixel mapping architecture, enabling each control box to identify its exact position on the façade—essential for seamless alignment of content across non-linear surfaces. To make the platform accessible for creatives, ON also generated an intuitive pixel map compatible with standard visual design software, allowing artists to develop and preview content without needing deep technical knowledge. This approach bridges the gap between technical complexity and creative freedom, turning the gallery into a programmable, artist-friendly canvas.

Energy efficiency has also been improved: while overall performance has increased dramatically, the use of optimized hardware and voltage management minimizes waste. The system is engineered for daily operation, with a total maximum power draw of 259.72 kW (at 85% efficiency), and operates up to 14 hours a day. ON also provides biweekly preventive maintenance to ensure optimal performance over time.

A Renewed Commitment

ON was uniquely positioned to deliver the renovation, having designed, built, and maintained the original system for over a decade. In a public tender that drew 8 to 10 global competitors, ON’s technical track record, creative engineering, and competitive bid led to its selection.

“We had to start from scratch again—adapting new dots to a façade that’s anything but conventional,” said Rodrigues. “But that’s our specialty: crafting custom solutions for large-scale, high-impact projects.”

With a new five-year maintenance agreement in place and the façade now fully operational, the SESI Digital Gallery is once again a living part of São Paulo’s cultural life—offering new creative possibilities for artists, curators, and the public.

“This project is a symbol of what ON stands for,” said Hugo Rodrigues. “Innovation rooted in experience, precision driven by creativity, and technology that exists to inspire.”

“This is more than a building—it’s a message,” concluded Rodrigues. “A symbol of São Paulo’s creative drive, and proof that with precision and vision, technology can become part of the city’s soul. This project goes beyond hardware—it reaffirms São Paulo’s role as a global capital of urban creativity. The FIESP Digital Gallery was a pioneer thirteen years ago. Now, we’ve rebuilt it to meet the standards of the future.”

Today, the SESI-SP Digital Gallery continues to serve as a cultural touchstone for São Paulo, drawing daily attention from thousands of passersby on Paulista Avenue. The updated façade reaffirms the city’s role as a center for creativity, and highlights how public art can evolve with technology.