Below you will find some design possibilities within a higher education institution and how the integration company can develop it.
Juan Tamayo*
University fields are the spaces where there are a high number of options to develop audiovisual projects of all kinds, from digital advertising to room automation. The audiovisual designer must be able to raise any design scenario and satisfy it.
It seems obvious, but every designer should consider a classroom. How difficult is it to locate a video projector, a screen and a sound system? Not at all difficult, but unfortunately it is where the installers fail the most, since they do not do the necessary analyzes for these spaces.
For the execution of these projects take into account the following recommendations:
- Make sure that the projected image can be seen throughout the public area.
- Following the basic rules of visual ergonomics, design the area of location of people and the height of this. A person who can observe rested can learn more.
- Analyze what the use of the sound system will be, what kind of reproductions it will perform and what level of ambient noise it has.
- Do not use the speaker of the video projector, this is more of a reference than a work.
In most classroom facilities the contractor does not design its design. Now education is largely done remotely, the teacher is in a classroom anywhere in the world, and students can be thousands of miles away. The Internet has done wonders. It is the task of the integrator to report on technological advances and design the right system for this type of application. What should this system include?
- In the video system there must be feedback monitors for the teacher, these are located in front of the presenter's area with the screen towards it. In these teams the teacher will be able to see the students who are in the remote location and / or can see a feedback of their presentation. People who are in the remote classroom will have the feeling that the teacher is watching them.
- Two cameras minimum. The first of them will be directed towards the teacher, the second towards the public.
- Microphone system located in the sky. These microphones will take audio information from the audience, for example, questions or comments from students.
- Microphone for the teacher.
- Matrix or mixer system, both in audio and video. The audio captured from the audience is only for the remote room, it should not be played by the speakers of the local room.
- Videoconferencing system, either a videoconference or a softcode for this type of application.
In addition, there should always be a control system that is friendly and easy to use. The most important thing is that it does not require training, that it is as simple as operating a new cell phone.
Distributed Audio
Delivering information as quickly as possible and in the right way should always be a design goal. Every college campus must have an adequate distributed audio system. This system should contain the following principles:
- Cover 100% of the campus, includes lounges, bathrooms and sparsely inhabited spaces.
- Be zoned, for example, if it is a regular advertising message should not be reproduced in classrooms so as not to interrupt the class.
- When zoned, each zone must be independent with local settings.
- Be connected and comply with audio evacuation rules.
- Have priority signals of:
1. Firefighter-type microphone for evacuation
2. Automatic evacuation messages
3. Automatic alarm messages
4. General calls
5. Normalization messages
6. Advertising messages
The designer should keep in mind that in outdoor spaces 3 times more power is required than covered or enclosed spaces. In the market there are projection speakers with which you can have up to half a kilometer with a message at 80 dB SPL. It is not necessary to make long stretches of copper cable for audio, there are already many audio applications over IP, use technologies such as AES67 or Dante for this type of applications.
Audio for sports scenarios
On most university campuses there is a sports stage. Along with education there should always be room for recreation, either as an athlete or as an amateur. Each space of these deserves a correct sound system, but in most cases it does not depend on speaker technology, it will depend on the acoustics of the area.
So before you sell and/or install a sound system for a coliseum or stadium, make sure what kind of acoustics you'll find. For example, a line array system works not very efficiently in a confined space of finished wall or concrete, but it could do so very efficiently in an open stadium. Keep in mind that these stages are usually used for cultural events, such as concerts.
Theatres – Auditoriums
In this article we will not address this topic as it deserves a full article. My recommendation is to be based on the different standards that exist, a good start is to study the standards for the AVIXA industry.
Digital Billboards
Digital signage has been one of the topics that has grown the most in the industry in recent years, even in large fairs of the medium can cover up to a third of the fair. But how to apply this in developments for college campuses? Actually, this is where these types of developments are born.
In any faculty there are billboards in which the secretary, the teacher or the student, locate information of general interest such as class schedules, information on a subject or even the need to rent a room.
The design proposal is to locate these billboards, which will be monitors or screens, and manage through software the location of these ads, possibly the installation cost is higher than a conventional billboard, but the cost of operation and consumption of CO2 may be lower than locating paper with the information.
Right at the entrance of each classroom you can locate a screen or a Tablet (safely) where you can play information on classroom schedule assignment, reservation or even the cancellation of the class.
As you can see, on a university campus there will always be audiovisual projects to be developed. My advice is to analyze what kind of needs they have, make a work plan and include operational staff. With this type of project, it is not to change labor for machines, it is to install elements that make it easier to develop the activity of the operational staff.
*Juan Tamayo is a senior application engineer for Audio-Technica Latin America, with more than 10 years of experience carrying out audiovisual projects as a designer, integrator, consultant among other functions. Any questions or comments can be written to [email protected]
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