Details
CHALLENGES
To outfit the university’s new 163,000 square-foot Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) building with the latest AV technology, Shaun Hayes, Utah Tech’s Senior Audiovisual Administrator brought on pro AV integrator Marshall Industries of Salt Lake City, Utah for design and installation assistance. Extron supplied AV switching, distribution, control, and audio amplification equipment for 35 classrooms, labs, lecture halls, and conference rooms.
Beyond the new-build AV systems installed in the SET building, the university’s own AV staff implemented an extensive AV standardization initiative, retrofitting a hodge podge of dissimilar AV systems and unreliable hardware in 175 rooms across 31 buildings to create standard systems based on Extron technology that is reliable and is efficiently managed remotely.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Science, Engineering, and Technology Building –
Five Floors of AV-Enhanced Educational Spaces
The SET building houses the university’s STEM-focused departments. AV assets range from single-screen classrooms to large lecture halls with multiple screens, to anatomy labs with multiple dissection tables that each have a camera and display to facilitate group viewing without having to crowd around the tables.
Standard Classrooms
Twenty standard classrooms located on all five building levels host teaching in diverse science and engineering subjects that include chemistry, microbiology, geology, physics, mechatronics, and others. The AV systems in all of these classrooms have the same design, look, and feel. That allows professors to teach in any classroom with AV tools that they know well. AV system uniformity also eases system maintenance.
Each standard classroom AV system is centered around a DTP® CrossPoint® 4K Scaling Presentation Matrix Switcher with built-in audio amplifier and control processor. AV content is displayed via either an 86″ flat panel display or a projector, depending on the classroom design. The instructor uses a 7″ TouchLink® Pro touchpanel to select among five HDMI inputs that include the instructor station PC, a document camera, a guest laptop, content from wireless devices delivered via a ShareLink® Pro 500, or video from an auto tracking PTZ camera.
Wireless mics allow instructors to reinforce their voices via a single ceiling speaker driven by the switcher’s built-in amplifier. A directional mic array in the ceiling picks-up room audio. Video and audio from the switcher and the directional mic are fed through an Extron MediaPort® 200 USB scaling bridge to the instructor station PC, which uses a conferencing application to connect to remote students.
Large Classrooms and Lecture Hall AV Systems Expand
on Standard Classroom AV System Design
In keeping with the concept of commonality, large classrooms on the first, second, and third levels and an expansive lecture hall on the main level springboard off the same AV system design as the standard classrooms, augmented to accommodate larger square footage and increased occupancy.
The most noticeable scale-up from the standard classroom design in the large rooms are more projectors and flat panel displays. While staying with one PTZ camera, the large rooms have two ceiling-mounted directional mic arrays to cover the increased area. To make AV system control more convenient, there are two 7″ Touchlink Pro touchpanels at opposite sides of the room.
To maintain sound intelligibility in large rooms, up to 12 ceiling speakers are used. These multiple speakers are driven by an XPA® 200-watt amplifier fed by an audio signal processor. The large rooms are also equipped with a presentation matrix switcher configured with more input and output ports.
Conference Rooms & Study Rooms
Audio Mixing: Three conference rooms with identical AV systems are available to staff and students on the second, third, and fourth levels. A DTP2 switcher selects between two HDMI sources connected via cables accessed through a Cable Cubby® in the conference table. Those in the room with portable devices can contribute AV content wirelessly via a ShareLink Pro 500. A DTP2 receiver supplies the selected video content to a 75″ flat panel display and sends the audio content to ceiling speakers via an MPA 601 amplifier.
Dean’s Conference Room: Located on the fifth level, the Dean’s conference room duplicates the AV system design of the other conference rooms. However, the flat panel display size is increased to 86″, and a UC camera, microphone, and video codec are added to equip the room for video conferencing.
Study Rooms: Eight small, private study rooms are conveniently located adjacent to the student lounges on the third, fourth and fifth levels. Each of these rooms is equipped with an HC 402 Meeting Collaboration System to facilitate idea sharing. When a presenter connects their laptop to the HDMI jack on the HC 402 system wallplate, the AV system powers-on, and the presenter’s video and audio come through the room’s 43″ flat panel display. When the room is unoccupied, the AV system shuts itself off.
RESULTS
The SET building opened to faculty and students October 2021, and immediately experienced heavy use. Click on the Featured Video link in this article’s sidebar at right to view a brief tour of the technology-rich spaces, shown in the ribbon-cutting video* posted on Utah Tech’s Facebook page. Eric Pedersen, Dean of the College of Science, Engineering, and Technology, noted during the opening ceremony, “Every square foot is designed for student experiences and learning. This building will provide many wonderful hands-on, career-oriented student experiences in science, engineering, and technology for decades to come, preparing students for their careers and for their lives.” A student comment posted on the building’s Facebook page echoes that sentiment, “It’s all about the things that students want. This isn’t your parents’ Science and Engineering Building. It’s full of natural light and technology.”
