{"id":4416,"date":"2021-09-02T14:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imegcorp.com\/?p=4416"},"modified":"2021-09-17T14:16:16","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T14:16:16","slug":"design-silos-come-down-when-an-av-engineer-leads-an-av-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imegcorp.com\/insights\/blog\/design-silos-come-down-when-an-av-engineer-leads-an-av-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Design silos come down when an AV engineer leads an AV project from the beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Note: The advanced AV design on the following project added full, high-quality audio and video remote conferencing, which has been utilized extensively during COVID-19. County commissioners, staff and the public can attend any meeting from a remote computer and be heard in the boardroom and on all other remote attendees\u2019 computers as well.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n By David Wright<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n IMEG was recently involved in what I consider a benchmark project for the audio-visual industry \u2013 one that illustrates the benefits of not only having technology designers involved from the very beginning, but also having AV engineers with acoustic qualifications rise to the occasion and lead the design.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The project was a renovation of the historic art deco council chambers inside the San Diego County Administration Center. The 1980s-style boardroom offers stunning bayside views through large arched windows\u00a0<\/span>but had obscured the\u00a0<\/span>scene with<\/span>\u00a0heavy floor-to-ceiling drapes (the original thinking being that acoustics is defined by dead, dry absorption). AV gear was arbitrary, undersized, and without proper sightline for most viewers; a \u201cstudio style\u201d presentation was broadcast via analog cable to thousands of people from numerous municipal groups.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The renovation was, for all intents and purposes, a two-year AV project.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>But while the design completely updated the space it also created two major acoustic and AV challenges:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These challenges made the integration of AV and acoustics to be of primary importance, leading the owner to choose the technology and acoustics consultant \u2013 IMEG \u2013 to be the prime designer on the project. (IMEG also provided mechanical and electrical design.) Project success, however, required all programming to be integrated through a team approach \u2013 not siloed among different firms or separated scopes \u2013 to balance strong technology and mechanicals that optimized noise control with architecture.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From the very beginning, our team worked collaboratively with the highly engaged, open-minded architect (who also had strong design interests) to meet stakeholder goals. The project followed the mantra that AV products are never AV solutions and placed utmost importance on the integration and balance of the \u201cwhole house\u201d of systems \u2013 architectural, mechanical, electrical, and lighting \u2013 with noise control and\u00a0<\/span>AV\u00a0<\/span>technology design in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(Watch a time-lapse video to see the project from beginning to end.)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As the project began, AV software programming became central to the overall design and was guided by the various perspectives and wide-ranging needs of the chamber\u2019s many users. IMEG worked closely with the owner\u2019s representative, who diligently helped our team understand the client\u2019s culture and the uses of the space, as well as guard the owner\u2019s mandate of \u201csimple to use.\u201d (Many long nights were expended to ensure the installation team understood the mandate, too.)\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The owner needed a user-friendly, accessible, yet sophisticated control point with hundreds of choices designed in. This took months to refine and vet between owner groups. An easy-to-operate conference discussion mic system also needed to be tailored for the group, so IMEG\u2019s acoustics engineers mandated a simple \u201cpush the button to talk\u201d approach for all microphones<\/span>\u00a0to<\/span>\u00a0limit the number of mics used at once. Software allowed this fundamental, but the devil was in the details (including taming and tuning<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>acoustics for this to work).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The A\/V systems were optimized over several months to iron out these details. People needed to be heard from far away<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>without a public address system,\u00a0<\/span>as<\/span>\u00a0natural c<\/span>ommunication and collaboration<\/span>\u00a0w<\/span>ere<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>desir<\/span>ed. The design included speaker coverage and clarity mapping, as well as extensive architectural integration including marble for reflection and support surfaces. Window shades had to have absorption\u00a0<\/span>value\u00a0<\/span>and floors had to be damped. The ceilings had to be diffusing, absorptive, and reflective to support a large council. A \u201cwave in motion\u201d acoustical ceiling for speech diffusion was custom designed to echo the west coast aesthetic. Perforated wood walls provided additional noise control.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The project would not be successful, however, without training for the owner\u2019s staff, documentation, and software updating \u2013 items often taken for granted as \u201csure \u2026 but only maybe\u201d on so many projects where AV and technology are typically pushed off to the end or never finished (this does happen!). This project, however, embraced these technical aspects and made them a priority. (Just ask the AV subcontractor, whose punch list was far longer than they expected.)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The renovation of the San Diego County Administration Center council chambers was a resounding success and was completed on time and within budget due to the collaboration of all.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Having the rare opportunity to lead such a multi-discipline project as a<\/span>\u00a0prime<\/span>\u00a0AV engineer allowed us to integrate technology from the beginning and meet all stakeholders\u2019 goals \u2013 from architecture to infrastructure \u2013 with the owner receiving a proudly renovated space served by\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>one proverbial AV \u201c<\/span>O<\/span>n<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0button.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\n
\n