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 wanted a landmark to launch its Peacock streaming service. It had to read at a glance as the network’s logo and fill the spot in Rockefeller Plaza where the Christmas tree usually stands. It also had to live outside through a New York winter.
We started with planning drawings and sketches taken from the logo: the forward-facing bird and the fanned tail. Only then did we cut steel. The frame went together in sections, the same way we build every large display piece.
This bird sits at the top of one range. The same welded construction, galvanized as standard, runs through every mossed animal we build, down to a twelve-inch turtle.
A forty-foot bird that has to stand up.
A forty-foot bird in a public plaza takes wind, weather and a crowd standing under it, so we designed the structure before the silhouette. The frame is welded steel, built in sections and powder-coated against rust. Its rods run ¼ to ⅝ of an inch. Anything we build over six feet gets steel tubing inside, and this piece is forty.
That construction is why the piece could stand in public through a winter instead of lasting one event. We use the same engineering for custom topiary for events and for topiary sculpture for cities and public art, where a piece has to take anchoring, lighting and people leaning on it.
We plan the lighting with the piece instead of adding it afterward. The lighted animals in the catalog are built the same way.
From steel, to foliage, to landmark.
The build
How it was built.
Every piece starts as a welded frame and is finished by hand before it ships.
Steel frame
We weld the armature in sections, with steel sized for the load, a powder coat and the internal tubing every tall piece gets. Nobody sees this part, but it is why the bird stands.
Head and neck
We shaped the profile by hand against the drawings and kept checking the silhouette until it read as the logo from every angle.
Tail feathers
Each feather is built on its own, then set to fan the way the logo does. The color is 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 on January 16, 2020. The sculpture weighs fifteen thousand pounds and carries 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 is made of.
- Frame
- Welded steel, built in sections
- Structure
- Heavy rod with internal steel tubing, standard on anything we build 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
Ready-made and custom
Where does a piece like this come from?
You can buy pieces ready-made, or commission one to your drawing, in the same frames, foliage and finishes.
Planning something like this?
Tell us what you are 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 to order.
- 4–10 weekstypical build time
- Any scaletabletop to 40 feet
- US & Canadashipping and install
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