After spending more than 12 years in its downtown location, AT&T elected to remain within the heart of Dallas’ Central Business District with the goal of bringing excitement and activity back to its urban core. Credit: Gensler

The AT&T Discovery District is the result of an extensive five-year collaboration between the global media company, Gensler, and City of Dallas to transform an under-utilized urban environment into an immersive mixed-use development, seamlessly integrated into a corporate campus. Photographer: Richard Eimer

With offerings like purposeful outdoor spaces, free public Wi-Fi & 5G, dining, retail and limitless entertainment opportunities, this 300,000-square-foot development has transformed into an active gathering spot for the community, attracting more than 200K visitors a month. Credit: Gensler

The District cleverly unifies physical and digital environments with a matrix of fully connected digital platforms embedded into the buildings and landscape. This captivating experience enables spur of the moment take-overs of lighting, audio, and creative media content. Photographer: Grant Gay

In alignment with the Downtown Dallas Inc. 360 Plan, this major repositioning aims to advance urban mobility, enhance surrounding neighborhoods, and promote great placemaking for the city and its people. Photographer: Grant Gay

The presence of The District has provided opportunities with neighboring hotels and retailers, including the recently opened Pegasus City Brewery, which is next door. Photographer: Grant Gay

The design behind The District sets a precedent with its adaptive reuse approach and mixed-use strategy with the goal of encouraging other corporations to invest in their communities and to develop shared neighborhoods for employees, and the public. Photographer: Grant Gay

The Globe is a 30-foot interactive spherical sculpture, comprised of a mirrored shell, color-changing lights, speakers and motion sensors. Photographer: Grant Gay

To promote health and wellness, The District provides an abundance of flexible outdoor workspaces as well as dining, retail, and entertainment options. Photographer: Grant Gay

The Exchange, located at The District, brings the city its first ever food hall located in downtown. Photographer: Grant Gay

The 26,700-square-foot, two-story, open-air food hall includes 16 eateries and features some of the city’s most beloved chefs and operators. Photographer: Grant Gay

Restaurants within the food hall include Ounce, Ichi Nisan, and Hard Shake which opened to the public in early 2021. Photographer: Grant Gay

Jaxon Texas Kitchen and Beer Garden provides a casual, rustic destination with plentiful outdoor seating, providing guests the opportunity to “soak in” the immersive art and digital environment. Photographer: Grant Gay

More than 31,000 square feet of disturbed soil areas were restored and re-vegetated during construction. The campus is completely powered by wind energy and includes leading-edge water and tree conservation systems which have led to a 40% reduction of potable water use for landscape irrigation. Photographer: Grant Gay

Inside AT&T Headquarters Lobby, which is now open to the public, an animated translucent surface playfully interacts with the high-resolution media platforms on the ground level. Photographer: Grant Gay

A seamless 30-foot glass façade exposes the lobby, placing 70 million visually enchanting pixels of custom-created content on display and uniting the lobby with the greater development. Photographer: Stephen Walsh

To further evoke the feeling of inclusivity, a double-heighted space that was previous fragmented was unified, creating a more seamless, transformative experience within the main foyer. Photographer: Stephen Walsh

Two media-integrated trellises were introduced to unite a block of disparate buildings, creating a realm for a recognizable public/HQ plaza. Photographer: Grant Gay

Operating at a cityscape level, the large outdoor 6K media wall is 104’ tall and 84’ wide. It is strategically placed at the terminus of one of the main streets in downtown Dallas, and viewable from eight city blocks away. Photographer: Grant Gay

The Globe rotates on a 180-degree axis and features an interactive light and sound experience that senses and respond to visitors’ motion and energy levels. Photographer: Grant Gay

In total, the development boasts an ecosystem of more than 125 million individual LED pixels, 300+ speakers, IR sensors, and Wi-Fi and 5G connectivity. Combined, these devices demonstrate the power of the network as it connects and loops media messages between the varying platforms year-round. Photographer: Grant Gay

After opening in May 2020, The District organically became a haven for people during the pandemic seeking an enjoyable, outdoor environment to live, work, and play. Photographer: Grant Gay

In collaboration with Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), the City of Dallas, Downtown Dallas Inc., and local businesses, The District was designed to make it easier than ever to visit downtown. Pedestrian walkways were also added to create a more maneuverable, energized, and vibrant downtown. Photographer: Grant Gay