THE CLIENT
Opened in January 2014, Edward P. Evans Hall is home to the Yale School of Management (SOM). This 225,000-square-foot building is located on the northern end of the Yale University campus. Employing a striking modern design, glass façade, and large courtyard, Evans Hall has taken its place among the other architectural landmarks that distinguish the Yale campus.
Equally compelling as the exterior, the interior of the Edward P. Evans Hall houses state of the art classrooms, faculty offices, academic centers, an auditorium, library, lecture hall/entertainment space and other student meeting spaces. Within each of these spaces, the project requirements demanded a well thought out design for the supporting AV/IT infrastructure. To meet these requirements, Yale hired HB Communications to develop and deploy the entire system design through a very close collaboration with the School of Management’s senior management team. With a long history of working on the Yale Campus, AV Integrator, HB Communications was quick to understand that the technology required for the School of Management (SOM) needed to project and support the university’s image as a highly advanced technological post graduate body. As part of the project’s scope, HB was able to walk Yale through a completely customized design for its classroom microphone technologies while taking into consideration the client’s aesthetics, and need for form to meet function.
A CUSTOMIZED SOLUTION
Of the 16 classrooms on the project, 14 had been specified with permanent seating where push to talk microphones would be needed. The design of the room and the client and architect both expressed that they wanted clean sight lines within the room. This meant that the microphones would need to be low profile so that the view of the teacher to student would be clear. In addition, each of the microphones needed to cross capture audio content so that any audio from the presenter, the data stations, or the students within the hall could be picked up and clearly heard. The HB team met with Clockaudio to review the requirements to identify a solution. Designed specifically for this project was a customized microphone that provided the low profile the client requested and a permanent mounting adaptation. The final product was a combination of the following items: the C310R slim line microphone with a rigid shaft and 60 degree fixed bend radius, permanently mounted in a SM20-RF shock mount, with the addition of the S80S through table microphone mount with bi-color LED indicator (for status indication) and pre-wired latching or PTT switch. The SM20-RF and S80S were also modified to be able to flush mount, allowing both pieces to mate perfectly together as one piece.The back end that was chosen for the microphone programming controls was Crestron based. In all, Clockaudio customized and supplied 540 microphones for the permanent classrooms for HB’s integration into the project. In addition, 14 podium microphones in the lecture hall were also included on this project and featured Clockaudio’s C33ESR-RF.
PROJECT CHALLENGES
The schedule originally called for a nine month completion. However, the space was not delivered to the integration team until three months before the project completion deadline. This meant that the HB team had to coordinate all of the technology within three months and that each of the participating manufacturers, including Clockaudio, had to respond to meet the new schedule.
THE RESULT
The overall AV deployment for the project was 10.5 million dollars. In addition to Clockaudio other manufacturers included Christie Digital, Stewart Filmscreen, Winoff and Crestron. Event space with two video walls used as a presentation surface, as well as four other video walls in the building are used to relay information in the public space, coffee shop and digital media library. These join over 40 digital signs and a superior audio and microphone system for a truly interconnected project. The facility’s well-thought out design creates a teaching and learning environment that supports the school’s innovative integrated curriculum and enhances the Yale School of Management (SOM) community. Clockaudio’s technologies enable a crystal clear sound capture and unobstructed sight lines that provide a streamlined fit out for the room.
Clockaudio is proud to be an integral part of this installation & gives special thanks to HB Communications for their contribution to this case study.
