NEW YORK, NY
2019
CNN’s studio 19Z is shared by CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, Fareed Zakaria GPS, and Erin Burnett OutFront, so key to the design was creating a visually flexible environment with varied shot axes. Besides a few CNN-red accent stripes, the studio’s limited material palette of white, brushed metal, and black allows the LED content (across 1000+ sq-ft of high-res screens) and lighting cues to completely redefine the character of the space. This mutability paired with three unique anchor desks affords each show a distinct look while occupying the same studio.
The double-height space most notably boasts a low-profile bent-steel staircase which leads to a mezzanine level occupied by producer workstations. This architectural feature defines the primary shot axis for CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, which completes its look by saturating the set with rich primetime blues and interspersing a skyline with Lemon’s iconic evening highrise show graphics.
Fareed Zakaria GPS, by contrast, is brightly lit, accenting the set’s crisp whites, and shoots along an alternate axis. Part of the seamless under-balcony LED array tracks into separate displays to reinforce Zakaria’s corner, and his circular anchor platform (as opposed to Lemon’s rectilinear) completes the transformation.
Finally, Erin Burnett OutFront employs a shot axis focusing on the set’s largest LED expanse and situates the host within a panoramic NYC backdrop. Burnett’s platform seems to extend from the lower stair landings, and the minimal structure of her desk relates to the vistawall framing beyond.
