2008 Best Entertainment/Arts AV Project
it was the stunning Newseum in Washington, D.C.
AV INTEGRATORAV CONSULTANTARCHITECT
The Newseum’s main control room itself is an attraction all its own, visible behind a large glass wall.
Credit: Communications Engineering
It wasn’t Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie-style publicity, but if any AV project in the last year could be described as “media-hyped” it was the stunning Newseum in Washington, D.C. Throughout the 250,000-square-foot, $450 million attraction, AV has more than just a supporting role—it’s the reason visitors flock to the museum. (For a look at one of its largest AV installs, see “A Stitch in Time,” June 2008).
For Communications Engineering (CEI), one of several contractors on the job, putting AV front-and-center applied to the master control room it built for handling systems throughout the Newseum, including what’s shown on more than 160 interactive kiosks. The room includes an eye-catching, curved wall that houses 18 equipment racks and nine 50-inch Barco display cubes controlled by an Evertz MVP multi-image display processor. CEI’s Gregg Echols says it worked with Evertz on a custom, bidirectional, fiber-optic interface for handling 1920×1200 resolution, RS-232, USB, and audio to manage the kiosks. CEI also built a pair of HD production control rooms for the two broadcast studios and installed the projection and sound equipment in the Big Screen Theater.
And no serious news museum could be without constantly updated headlines. CEI hooked up the Newseum to the world via satellite and IP links in order to download and display the front pages of newspapers from around the world.
Communications Engineering, Newington, Va.
SH Acoustics, Milford, Conn.
Polshek Partnership Architects, New York
CEI also built for the Newseum a pair of high-definition production rooms with adjoining audio control rooms for two broadcast studios.
Credit: Communications Engineering
Credit: Communications Engineering
