Project: Flagler College
Application: Education
Location: St. Augustine, Fla.
Systems Integrator: Audio Visual Innovations, Jacksonville, Fla., office
When a typical classroom installation at the 19-acre campus of Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla., suddenly grew from five rooms to 20 — and without an extension to the original deadline — Audio Visual Innovations (AVI) didn't flinch. AVI's office in Jacksonville, Fla., and Flagler already had a plan in place for a standard classroom AV system.
It's a system that AVI and Flagler have been using for the past four summers as part of a campus-wide AV upgrade project, says Bruce Hudgens, CTS, sales engineer for AVI.
Each classroom has identical functional capability and user interface and includes a Mitsubishi XD490U 3,000-lumen DLP projector, Sony SLVD380P combination VHS/DVD player, Elmo TT-02S digital visual presenter, Extron MLS 406 video signal switcher with an Extron MLC 226 IP DV+ Controller, a Smart Sympodium, a customized wall plate for connectivity, Samson Servo200 stereo amplifier, two Tannoy Di5 wall-mounted speakers, a VFI economy podium with an integrated equipment rack and flip-up shelf, and client-furnished manual front-projection screen.
Despite the standard system plan, the project presented several challenges — time being the main one. “Because of the given time constraints and the scope of the work, this project in particular put AVI to the ultimate test,” says Steve Skipp, director of educational services at Flagler College. “Being an institution of higher education, it was critical that all of the equipment installations be up and running at the start of our fall semester.” With only about two weeks to establish an installation plan, gather a crew, complete procurement, and finalize the logistics for the additional rooms, AVI opted to build all of the systems in its warehouse off-site, simplifying installation and testing down the line. Hudgens says that he sent the client a quote for the additional work on Aug. 9, received the purchase order on Aug. 13, and his crew was wrapping up the job by Sept. 3
While time was an issue, some architectural details also provided challenges that required AVI to adapt the standard AV system to fit the needs of the rooms found in historic buildings.
The classrooms located in the Molly Wiley Art Building, for example, are housed in the campus' former boiler plant. One first-floor classrooms easily accommodated a standard classroom package, but the other two rooms on that floor had ceilings less than 8 feet high. Therefore, the equipment complement was modified to become self-contained portable systems. A self-powered audio system was designed into the equipment rack, eliminating the amplifier and external speakers. On the second floor, the four rooms have exposed peaked ceilings and wooden beams. The external walls were constructed of the soft material of coquina; therefore, surface-mounted raceways were required for system cabling.
AVI also encountered problems in the student lounge, where two rooms were being converted into classrooms. These rooms have relatively low ceilings and a lighting soffit cuts across them. The soffit acted as an architectural lighting position as well as way to hide a structural beam.
Positioning the projector in between the screen and the soffit would have been too close for the optics. At first, it was unclear whether placing the projector behind the soffit would be too far from the screen, but, ultimately, behind the soffit was the best solution — and it allowed AVI to stick to the standard classroom package. The construction of the walls required the use of surface-mounted raceways or conduit rather than hiding the system cabling in the walls.
In order to meet greater technology needs, a variation of the standard AV system was used for the graphics lab in the library, where a wide-format projector (Mitsubishi WD2000U 3,000 lumen WXGA) was used. The Extron IN1508 scaling video signal switcher, along with associated audio signals, also scales the output to match the native resolution of the projector. Due to the size of the room, a distributed audio system was integrated into the system, using a TOA mixer-amplifier and 12 flush-mounted Atlas ceiling speakers. A 12-space VFI equipment rack was used in lieu of the lectern.
In the digital media classroom, the client requested that the audio have some “punch.” To enhance the audio, a Crown CDi1000 1,000-watt, two-channel amplifier was specified to power four Soundtube RS600i-WH ceiling-mounted pendant speakers and two JBL SB-2 passive subwoofers. As in the digital photography lab, a wide-format resolution was specified for the projector (Mitsubishi WL639U 3,500 lumen WXGA), and a Da-Lite 16:10 cosmopolitan electrol motorized screen was also required for this room. Scaling the source material to match the native resolution of the projector was discussed, but in the end, the decision was made to run all of the source material in its original format.
The painting studio presented yet another obstacle. The bottoms of the exposed beams were only about 6 feet, 8 inches from the floor — just within ADA regulations for head room, meaning the projection screen would be much lower than in a traditional classroom. The projector would also need to be mounted within reach from the floor while maintaining the 80-inch minimum vertical clearance requirement.
The five rooms at the new student center easily accommodated the standard established by the AVI team with one minor variation. They were larger than the old classrooms, so distributed audio system was implemented. Computer monitors had already been purchased, so the decision was made to eliminate the Smart Sympodium for these rooms.
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