2021 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. SCN once again celebrates the firms that went above and beyond to create ultimate user experiences. A special year requires special consideration, so this year the judges awarded 11 installations as worthy of special recognition.
First United Methodist Church
Peoria, IL
Pearl Technology executed an audiovisual upgrade to the video production studio, recording studio, podcast studio, and sanctuaries at First United Methodist Church. Technologies involved included the installation of Allen & Heath D-Live Mixing Consoles and monitoring, Panasonic cameras and controllers, Blackmagic Design video switching, Shure microphones, and Luxul network switching.
Subaru Park
Philadelphia, PA
Subaru Park is home to the Philadelphia Union, a Major League Soccer team. This state-of-the-art facility was built in 2010 on the banks of the Delaware River on the outskirts of Philadelphia, PA. As the 10th anniversary approached, the production team set out to update the park with the latest AV for motion graphics, video, and stats. The Union team partnered with CTI from start to finish to decommission the original system and install updates throughout the stadium. They opted for Ross creative systems, Sony and Wave Central cameras, Netgear switches, and Laguna branded stations. New televisions in concessions keep fans connected.
Concepts
Boston, MA
Concepts, a luxury clothing retail store (a concept created by Amazon), has combined authentic skateboarding roots with the brand’s ability to convey a narrative and translate their identity through an immersive audiovisual retail experience designed and executed by the crew at CommLink Integration. Brands and products employed to help deliver the conceptual narrative at Concepts include Sonos, Sharp NEC displays, BrightSign, AVPro Edge video matrix, Symetrix audio DSP, UniFi network hardware, and a Latitude custom controller.
The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
San Diego, CA
Solotech rose to the challenge of designing, supplying, and installing a full production system for The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, home of the San Diego Symphony. The Solotech team selected an L-Acoustics audio system for its clear and uniform sound, high-resolution bass frequencies, and high power output. The installed fiber optic signal distribution by Optocore sends audio to multiple DiGiCo consoles and stage racks. The video system is a mix of fixed and PTZ Sony and Panasonic cameras, routed through Blackmagic video switchers to three Planar 3.9mm LED screens. Solotech used a complete ETC solution with IQ Sensor Racks, with DMX controlled Paradigm, Mosaic, and Gio consoles. The Rady Shell’s Meyer Constellation System, in a first-ever outdoor installation, provides variable electronically enhanced acoustics on stage.
SCOR Headquarters
New York, NY
USIS AudioVisual helped deliver a reimagined HQ designed for the hybrid workforce. As one of the first built projects to demonstrate how a post-pandemic workplace can function, the design of SCOR’s NYC headquarters provides each employee a strong sense of belonging, whether they are working in the office or as part of the company’s agile workforce. The 75,0000-square-foot, two-floor fit-out delivered technology and spaces aligned with the global reinsurance company’s goal of dynamic work environments to facilitate collaboration, complete with audiovisual systems designed and integrated by USIS AudioVisual. The design/build project delivered AV for multiple flexible spaces, including 26 conference rooms, four multi-person phone rooms, a boardroom, CEO offices, marketing office, guest executive offices, a divisible room, reception area, and café with town hall system.
Harlem School of the Arts
New York, NY
The Herb Alpert Foundation funded The Renaissance Project, an ambitious $9.5 million restoration designed to update the Harlem School of the Arts’ aesthetic and architectural footprints. The renovation of the entire 45,600-square-foot complex replaced the 40-year-old building’s original two-story Brutalist-style brick exterior with a double-height glass wall angled at 5° off the vertical, analogous to the Appel Room that WSDG helped create for the Jazz at Lincoln Center complex. Facing Harlem’s St. Nicholas Ave., the design, from WSDG, establishes a unique acoustically “tuned” environment as a vibrant multipurpose performance space in the building’s original 3,500-square-foot main lobby for Harlem School of the Arts students. The space serves as a focal point for a multiplicity of musical, dance, and theatrical presentations.
Redding Electric Utility’s Emergency Operations Center
Redding, CA
Redding Electric Utility’s operation center doubles as the city’s EOC during emergency conditions or events of magnitude. Vistacom engineered this EOC to receive and display real-time data from REU’s SCADA network, 360° advanced IQ FireWatch cameras, a multi-spectral smoke sensor system, the geographic information system (GIS) for location referencing, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the field to monitor weather or large-scale events. Additionally, city-wide radio communications and calls are ingested through the interconnected AV and unified conferencing system, and live information can be streamed to social media channels and media outlets alike, enabling critical access with first responders and partnering agencies. Essentially, the EOC enhances situational awareness for REU operators, with the best possible viewing experience and easy observation of multiple data streams and seamless content visualization.
Dublin City Council
5555 Perimeter Drive, Dublin, OH
The City of Dublin selected New Era Technology as its technology partner for the new build of the Dublin City Council. The city needed a hybrid solution to adapt to COVID-19 protocols, including an immersive streaming and conference experience for virtual and on-site attendees. After a year of planning and two months of installation, features include hybrid conferencing (Cisco Webex Pro), custom Cisco and Crestron video integration for active participants, custom video routing and touch-10 programming, and Televic Conference Solutions. Four gallery monitors, one projector, two 86-inch conference room displays (with Cisco integration), and a 3x3 Samsung video wall concluded the project. The integration of Cisco and Crestron is distinctive; the solutions combined create a cohesive experience for virtual and local attendees for years to come.
Walmart ATX Studio
Bentonville, AR
Walmart Academy’s new collaborative and distance learning system from Diversified is designed to engage instructors and participants. Looking to deploy a modified version of a room originally designed and implemented at Harvard, Walmart wanted additional automation to maximize system efficiency and enhance ease of use. Utilizing Barco WeConnect as its connection platform, with capabilities for 72 direct remote participants and unlimited “observer” participants, sessions can be managed by as few as three people. The enhanced automation includes a camera tracking system that relies on facial recognition and microphone triggers to automate camera switching. A video wall for monitoring the system and operator monitors simplifies controlling video routes and DSP functions via virtual mixers. Instructors are thrilled with the interactivity including polling, data sharing, and immersive video.
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First Americans Museum of Oklahoma
Oklahoma City, OK
The First Americans Museum of Oklahoma takes visitors on an immersive tribal village storytelling experience with a unique suspended and curved dvLED video wall that wraps around the center of the museum. Peerless-AV designed a custom fabricated mounting system with the flexibility to accommodate the curvature of the wall, which cantilevers out 6 feet, giving the effect of floating in the air, and to support the 600-pound combined weight of the 192 Absen displays. The installation was highly challenging; one slight misstep in the curvature would throw the entire structure off. Peerless-AV’s SEAMLESS team was instrumental in calculating the radius and providing a mounting system that allowed precise fine-tune adjustment and exact placement of the dvLED panels at every single point.
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Chop Shop Chicago
Chicago, IL
As virtual events became a necessity, so did the need to offer high-quality professional content. No longer could executives, event emcees and other presenters get away with a poorly lit basement, subpar audio, or a poorly composed camera. AV Chicago realized these needs and worked to develop a solution. In partnership with Chop Shop Chicago, the team at AV Chicago reimagined the event space at Chop Shop with a state-of-the-art, broadcast-quality production studio. The space is completely tunable based on the needs of the event, whether attendees will be physically present at Chop Shop, remote, or a mix. While the Studio at Chop Shop provides a safe space for in-person attendees, it’s integrated with the virtual event platform here.live so virtual attendees can also be accommodated.
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