NEW YORK – The Empire State Building has completed its four-year, $165 million Observatory Experience redevelopment, by unveiling the newly-reimagined 80^th floor as its fourth and final phase. In efforts to redesign the space and improve visitors' experience, the building has implemented informative, engaging exhibits for guests to enjoy while venturing up to the 86^th floor Observatory, showcasing the world-famous building's history, innerworkings and cultural impact. Upon exploring the building's 2^nd floor exhibits, guests are ushered into the newly renovated 80^th floor, which presents an open space surrounded by windows, offering visitors a preview of the views to come on the 86^th floor. The latest and final component of the project, which opened to the public following a ribbon cutting ceremony on November 27^th, features a variety of interactive elements while offering an alternative vantage point to the city. Serving as the last segment before making way to the 86^th floor and the optional 102^nd floor, the 80^th floor welcomes visitors with a specific, tailored introduction to the city. As a service to all tourists and New York City residents, the NYC: Above and Beyond exhibit encourages visitors to create personalized trip itineraries through an exclusive partnership with the city's official marketing and tourism bureau, NYC & Company. Portraying five, interactive video screens, the exhibit allows guests to build a customized guide, catered to individual interests, while utilizing professional expertise to plan their excursions. The assembled, recommended list of activities and attractions then automatically downloads to guests' phones via QR code or email, for future reference. Visitors are then guided through the second exhibit, Artistry in Light; featuring a short film on the world-renowned lighting designer, Marc Brickman. In this space, guests will receive an inside look at the building's light shows by highlighting Brickman's work, such as the first-ever music-to-light show with Alicia Keys in 2012 and the holiday light show synced to Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You." The next exhibit showcases famed, British memory artist, Stephen Wiltshire's monumental work. The display highlights Wiltshire's original piece from 2017, with the documentation of his journey in drawing an incredibly detailed landscape of the city's skyline, from the corner of the 80^th floor over the course of four days, completely from memory, upon a 45-minute helicopter ride above Manhattan. Proceeding through the floor, visitors may view screens displaying user-generated content. Encouraging guests to share pictures on social media, the interactive monitors feature mosaic-style images posted by other visitors, using the hashtag #empirestatebuilding. Guests can enlarge the content with touch and can view nighttime posts reflected in their shadow. Acknowledging that visitors can often get disoriented in terms of direction and location once at the top of the building, the Scenes of NYC exhibit provides panoramic views through the building's classic viewfinders, which have been reworked to offer virtual reality scenes of different, famed New York locations. Visitors can receive an up-close look at various places, spotted from the building's observation deck, while beneath a large compass pointing out popular destinations and surrounded by Wiltshire's drawing, depicted on the walls. Lastly, upon visiting the Observatories, guests proceed to an additional area on the 80^th floor with individual kiosks, to view and purchase their green-screen pictures, previously taken on the 2^nd floor. The building utilizes pictures taken of each individual from 25 HD cameras at different angles throughout their journey, to recognize each visitor as they approach the self-serviced kiosks. Through facial recognition technology or personalized QR codes, the kiosks retrieve and print photos within six seconds. The implemented technology also recognizes if guests attempt to sneak a picture of their professional photos with their phone, resulting in the screen going dark. The initial phase of the project commenced with the repositioning of the Observatory entrance, which opened in August 2018. The project's second phase comprised its 2^nd floor exhibits, and the third phase encompassed the opening of its renovated 102^nd floor Observatory. Detailed information and photos regarding the previous phases of the redevelopment can be found here. The overall Observatory Experience, which evolved into a fully educational and immersive journey, intends to elevate guests' experience throughout. The project's exhibitions aim to reduce or eliminate the stress of waiting in line, by reimagining the space. Focusing visitors on pure enjoyment, the renovation encourages guests to take the experience at their own pace. The building additionally opened up the stairwell from the 80^th floor, now adorned with fun cartoons, ensuring pleasure and efficiency throughout. Aligning with the project's mission, Thinc Design founder, Tom Hennes expressed, "The single most satisfying thing is seeing that all the way up to the top, people are enjoying themselves and having a good time." Guests visiting the building can venture to the 86^th floor Observatory with tickets starting at $38. To access the structure's recently reopened 102^nd floor Observatory, visitors may purchase an additional $20 ticket. For the unveiling of the 80^th floor and as a commemorative launch of the entire Observatory Experience, the Empire State Building will premiere a new video starring Lin-Manual Miranda, set to his original track, featuring a new music-to-light show, designed by Brickman. Thinc Design led a cross-disciplinary team from the arts, architecture, travel, technology, engineering and entertainment industries to conceive, curate, design and build out the project. The Empire State Building spans 1,454 feet from base to antenna top in Midtown Manhattan. The building, owned by Empire State Realty Trust Inc., hosts various tenants from diverse industries. Empire State Realty Trust Inc. owns, manages, operates, acquires and repositions office and retail properties as a REIT. The company has assembled a portfolio consisting of 10.1 million rentable square feet within Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area.