NBC Universal
The NBC Peacock
A 40-foot topiary peacock built for the launch of Peacock TV and installed at Rockefeller Plaza.
ClientNBC Universal
LocationRockefeller Plaza, New York
Height40 feet
MaterialsFaux boxwood over welded steel
Seen onNBC’s Today Show
The brief
NBC needed a landmark for the launch of its Peacock streaming service: instantly readable as the network’s logo, big enough to hold Rockefeller Plaza — the spot the Christmas tree usually takes — and durable enough to live outside through a New York winter.
The shape was worked out in planning drawings and sketches before any steel was cut, taken from the logo itself: the forward-facing bird, the fanned tail. Then the frame went together in our workshop, in sections, the way every large display piece here is built.
A forty-foot bird that has to stand up.
A garden topiary leans on nothing. A forty-foot bird in a public plaza carries wind, weather and a crowd standing under it, so the structure is the design problem before the silhouette is. The frame is welded steel, shaped in sections and powder-coated against rust; on large builds the rods run ¼ to ⅝ of an inch, with steel tubing inside the structure — the rule in this workshop is that anything over six feet gets internal tubing, and this piece is forty.
That construction is the difference between an event prop and a piece that can stand in public through a winter. It is the same engineering behind our custom topiary for events and the topiary sculpture for cities and public art that has to survive anchoring, lighting and people leaning on it.
From steel, to foliage, to landmark.
In the workshop
How it was built.
Every piece starts as a welded frame and is finished by hand before it ships.
Steel frame
The armature is welded in sections in our workshop — steel sized for the load, powder-coated, with the internal tubing every tall piece here carries. This is the part nobody sees, and the reason it stands.
Head and neck
The profile is shaped by hand against the drawings until it reads as the logo from every angle — a silhouette test, repeated until it passes.
Tail feathers
Feathers are built individually, then set to fan the way the logo does, with the colour worked in so the fan reads from across the plaza.
It stood in the plaza spot the Christmas tree usually takes.
On air
It made the broadcast.
Al Roker lit it on the Today Show, January 16, 2020 — fifteen thousand pounds of sculpture carrying more than 11,000 LED lights.
- TODAY Meet the new ‘Peacock Tree’ adorning Rockefeller Center ↗
- Time Out New York A giant, glowing peacock has been installed at Rockefeller Center ↗
- Untapped New York A giant peacock has replaced the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree ↗
- Secret NYC A massive floral peacock has appeared at Rockefeller Center ↗
Event photography: Hudson Gray · build photography: Pond Creek Studios
Specification
What it’s made of.
- Frame
- Welded steel, built in sections in our own workshop
- Structure
- Heavy rod with internal steel tubing — standard here on anything over six feet
- Weight
- 15,000 pounds, as reported on the Today Show
- Lighting
- More than 11,000 LED lights, lit on air by Al Roker
- Foliage
- UV-rated faux boxwood — no watering, no seasonal upkeep
- Finish
- Powder-coated against rust and weather
- Install
- Delivered and installed on site, anchored for a public plaza
- Upkeep
- Occasional dusting and cleaning; nothing else
Planning something like this?
Tell us what you’re picturing.
Send a photo or a sketch with your dimensions and date. We come back with a design, a price and a delivery date — then build it in our own workshop.
- 4–10 weekstypical build time
- Any scaletabletop to 40 feet
- US & Canadashipping and install
