2020 has been a tough year for pro AV installations, with integrators forced to work around COVID-19 restrictions while crafting personalized experiences for their clients. This year, SCN once again celebrates the firms that went above and beyond to create ultimate user experiences.
Watch the video below to see all of SCN's 2020 Installs of the Year.
Thrivent Financial Corporate HQ
Minneapolis, MN
AVI Systems partnered with Thrivent Financial on its eight-story, 264,000-square-foot headquarters in Minneapolis. With a capacity for more than 1,000 employees, the new building includes a café and bank, over 200 meeting rooms, and several common areas, boardrooms, and presentation rooms. AVI helped Thrivent transform its approach to audiovisual equipment, particularly for its collaboration spaces and meeting rooms. With a focus on enabling workflows, both remote and on-site, AVI aligned technology with employees’ expectations and use cases. AVI used products by Crestron, Logitech, Shure and others.
911 Emergency Operations Center
Peoria, IL
IAS Technology was called in to upgrade the failing AV system and related technology at a 911 Emergency Operations Center in Peoria. The IAS team installed two Barco 4K Laser projectors with edge-blending driven by a tvONE CORIOmaster2 in a process that resulted in less than one hour of downtime for the center’s operations over a two-day period. The upgrade allows employees to see GPS mapping/tracking, call data, and other critical information at each individual workstation and on the high-resolution video wall.
Read more: https://www.avnetwork.com/news/tvone-coriomaster2-makes-us-debut-in-critical-display-application
Dubai International Airport
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai International’s new Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC) houses several teams managing airport operations 24/7. Integrator Aesthetix was appointed to design and integrate a state-of-the-art audiovisual solution for the AOCC control room. The objective was to provide a user-friendly, flexible video wall solution for operators to view live visuals and data for monitoring and collaborative decision-making. Aesthetix selected RGB Spectrum’s MediaWall V 4K display processor to power the AOCC’s 55-screen video wall. The AOCC MediaWall-based video wall centralizes an extensive volume of visuals and data to enhance situational awareness. Operators can collaboratively view information for daily management and planning.
Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center
Detroit, MI
Seeking to encourage a community-oriented space as part of the City of Detroit’s revitalization efforts, the Detroit Pistons moved their training facility and headquarters to downtown Detroit and selected New Era Technology as the AV integrator for the project. The 185,000-square-foot, four-story facility houses indoor and outdoor spaces for public and private events. New Era ensured state-of-the-art systems that fit within budget constraints and a limited timeline. New Era’s contributions included audiovisual solutions for spaces including the draft room, practice gym, team room, locker room, hydrotherapy space, conference rooms, executive and administrative offices, and a broadcast media studio. The solutions help contribute to pre-season, mid-season, playoffs, and post-season, and further the city’s mission of bringing the Detroit community together.
Wells Fargo, Hudson Yards
New York, NY
HB helped Wells Fargo develop and install an engaging video wall experience at its new Hudson Yards office that brings beauty, peace, and a sense of calm to those who work there. Working together with the Wells Fargo team and architects, the integration firm set out to bring nature and serenity into the workplace with the video installation. HB installed a 30-foot-tall by 6-foot-wide Planar DirectLight X LED video wall with a 1.5mm pixel pitch and sent a video production team to picturesque locales in New York, San Francisco, Yosemite State Park, California’s Big Sur, and several other locations to capture custom 8K content that would suit the unique size and aspect ratio of the wall. The end result exceeded expectations and truly brought the magnificence of our world into Wells Fargo’s office.
University of Pennsylvania - Law School/Silverman Hall
Philadelphia, PA
Penn Law’s premier building, Lewis Hall (now Silverman Hall), opened in February of 1900. The building initially had formal “reading rooms” at opposite ends of its second floor where generations of Penn Law students studied. Over time, the students contributed to the growing collection of reading materials—an undertaking that eventually resulted in the creation of the Biddle Law Library. The library was moved in 1994, and the reading rooms were repurposed as large classrooms (renovations completed in 1998). Twenty-two years later, these classrooms have been renovated again. AV integrator Solutionz and AV consultancy firm KMK Technologies brought new life to these spaces through a balance of restored architectural elements and innovative audio-video technologies from companies including Audio-Technica, Christie Digital, Extron, JBL Pro, and Mersive.
Madame Tussauds Hollywood
Hollywood, CA
Designed by OpenEye Global, the Jimmy Kimmel Experience at Madame Tussauds is a fully immersive film set that transports guests to Jimmy Kimmel Live to become part of the magic of television. Kimmel stands front and center to greet guests, who usually stop to get a selfie with him. As fans move through the experience, they are able to participate in a taped “Pedestrian Question” interview, and then it’s showtime! Each guest becomes the star of the show, enjoying 15 seconds of fame as their interview is broadcast on the big screen for all to see. Following their on-screen debut, guests make their way through the set for more interactive photo opportunities, including taking a seat in the coveted director’s chair, getting a feel for what it’s like behind the scenes as they head backstage, and more.
Akamai Technologies World Headquarters
Cambridge, MA
The largest cybersecurity company in Massachusetts has consolidated multiple campus locations into a 19-story, 453,000-square-foot headquarters bursting with audiovisual technology integrated by McCann Systems. Opened in late 2019, Akamai’s headquarters features architectural details such as high ceilings and an abundance of natural light. McCann Systems was the perfect AV partner in its willingness to echo these details in the integration of the unified communication systems for Akamai. In addition to building, installing, and commissioning the audiovisual systems, McCann Systems offered on-site managed services. The conference room technology and digital signage were designed through a partnership between ACT Associates and the AV team at 145 Broadway, with help from McCann Systems.
Helios Education Foundation
Phoenix, AZ
Helios Education Foundation, an organization that helps foster advanced student preparedness and academic advancement, recently built a 30,000-square-foot headquarters in Phoenix with the goal of enhancing community involvement and education by outfitting the facility with advanced technologies. Teaming with The Sextant Group, now called NV5, Spinitar worked with Helios to build a modern architectural space with integrated cutting-edge technologies. The AV infrastructure was built using various products from key manufacturers including Crestron and NEC Display. Sextant created a culturally relevant architectural technology design that encourages collaboration, information sharing, and educational growth. Using technology as the highway between building and community, Helios has established an educational presence in the community to help pave the way for future generations.
Globe Life Field – Home of the Texas Rangers
Arlington, TX
Diversified partnered with the Texas Rangers to outfit their new stadium, Globe Life Field, and deliver an enhanced fan experience. The stadium’s seating bowl features the first surround sound system installed in a ballpark, which delivers an energizing concert-level sound experience. Twenty-two AV closets throughout the massive stadium support several hundred AV devices and IPTV endpoints in the concourses and suites, keeping fans engaged in the excitement no matter where they are in the stadium. To transport the action on the field to fans, Diversified installed a comprehensive broadcast system complete with a SMPTE ST 2110 video production control room. The install features loudspeakers from JBL, Fulcrum, Community Loudspeakers, and Electro-Voice; a DSP from QSC; control by Crestron, QSC, and Apple iPads; and an audio console by Yamaha.
Foreign Affairs Security Training Center
Virginia
The State Department’s Foreign Affairs Security Training Center, built to integrate 11 disparate facilities, is a multipurpose complex dedicated to the ongoing training of 2,000 special agents—plus 10,000 additional State Department and U.S. foreign service community engineers, technicians, and security professionals. The construction phase lasted three years, during which time Bridges SI engineered and implemented an enterprise IP system for the entire facility. The install included hundreds of networked audio and camera distribution components mounted throughout multiple areas, all connected via a secure fiber infrastructure. Types of spaces included a smokehouse, rappelling wall, live-fire shoot house, explosives range, tactical maze, and mock urban environment. Innovations from AtlasIED, Middle Atlantic, QSC, and Samsung were used in the installation.
Color Trail at 44 Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA
In this San Francisco office tower, Color Trail—a reactive light installation by ESI Design, an NBBJ studio—turns the lobby into a canvas, with passersby serving as the paintbrushes. Spanning the length of the lobby, the installation reacts to the movement of people, filling the space with watercolor-esque light. As people walk through the lobby, they become digital paintbrushes, trailing a colored path across the display. As more people enter the lobby, the media surface fills with brushstrokes, becoming more colorful and dynamic. When two people cross paths, the colors mix and swirl around each other, creating new colors and unexpected patterns. The media supports two different “brush” types: a soft-edged, fluid Organic Brush and a hard-edged, tightly bound Geometric Brush.
The Cove @ UCI
Irvine, CA
The Cove @ UCI, home to UCI Beall Applied Innovation, is a 100,000-plus-square-foot facility in UCI Research Park. The university teamed up with Digital Networks Group, an Avidex Company, for the design-build audiovisual integration project. Every aspect of the facility was constructed with technology, collaboration, and innovation in mind. The cornerstone of the integration project is the 180-degree, 134-foot-long Planar/Leyard dvLED video wall that provides high-impact, seamless content driven by Hiperwall. The Beach is a purpose-built event space complemented by cutting-edge audio systems, confidence monitors, cameras, and systems for recording and live event streaming, videoconferencing, and room controls.
Ron Clark Academy
Atlanta, GA
The Middle Ages meets Harry Potter with a 52-foot-diameter, circular NanoLumens LED screen installed on the ceiling at the Ron Clark Academy by Baker Audio Visual. The system is a performance and educational aid for the school’s students and educators, who come from all over the world to participate in events and trainings. When not being used as an educational tool, the screen displays scenes of dragons flying overhead and landing on the rim and looking down into the room. A robust QSC sound system is hidden discreetly within the space’s Gothic columns to supply voice and program audio reinforcement. The backbone of the system consists of a Show Stage 4x4k display processor, Crestron Control processor, QSC amplifiers/DSP, Datapath server, and more.
