Ann Arbor, MI – December 17, 2007 - One Friday in late October, Fred Shen stood before a room packed with more than 50 architecture students and faculty at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning. He was invited to talk about multimedia technology and what it means to the future of architecture.

As a 1966 graduate of University of Michigan, Mr. Shen was not only sharing his knowledge, he was living the sort of pivotal experience all of us—at least those of us over the age of 30--dream of: to go back to our alma mater and teach students like ourselves.

“Things were a little different at the University of Michigan in 1966,” Mr. Shen, President and CEO of Shen Milsom & Wilke and a graduate of the University’s aeronautical engineering program, told the students. At that time, the College of Engineering was in a single building; it’s now spread among 23 buildings on the university’s north campus.

Taubman College is also on the north campus, reflecting the essential partnership between architecture and engineering, design and technology.

Mr. Shen’s 90-minute presentation covered three recent projects in disparate fields that marry multimedia with building design: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s Surgical Center in New York City, KMD Architects and Perkins Eastman; The Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ, Bower Lewis Thrower Architects; and Jon M. Huntsman Hall at The Wharton School, Philadelphia, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.

Shen Milsom & Wilke worked closely with Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s IT staff to design the IT infrastructure that supports the hospital’s 21 new high-technology operating rooms.

The most striking feature in each of these is the Wall of Knowledge--four large, wall-mounted, high-definition displays that include complete, real-time patient information. The “knowledge” displayed on the wall is generated by diverse information systems, physiological monitors, and medical devices. It also includes video of the ongoing surgery, current laboratory data, and radiology images. This technology gives surgeons and nurses a visual image of the operation, as well as constantly updated information on a patient’s status.

The 2,010-guestroom Borgata is a casino that includes specialty restaurants and boutiques, a European-style spa, a 1,000-seat music club, a comedy club, and other entertainment venues, as well as the usual gaming space. Shen Milsom & Wilke created a data network to link and manage the technology for mission-critical systems, including gaming operations; applications specific to the gaming industry, such as player tracking; hotel registration; and digital signage.

The Wharton School set out to create the “ultimate wired classroom building.” It includes custom-designed lecterns that give instructors dashboard control over the technology and room environment; one-touch digital video and audio recording to archive classroom proceedings and viewing materials directly to Wharton’s intranet Web site; and multimedia and broadband audio and video conferencing.

Mr. Shen described some other Shen Milsom & Wilke projects that feature flashy technology, including the Grand Lisboa Casino in Macau, designed to resemble a glowing and intricate lotus flower. The exterior of the spherical casino is dotted with 60,000 LED clusters that create a kaleidoscope of moving color that displays various scenes—from swimming koi to whirling slot machines.

Architecture relies increasingly on multimedia technology, not only to support a building’s functions and the needs of its occupants, but also to create innovative exteriors like this one.

In 2006, Shen Milsom & Wilke celebrated its 20th year of business. By 2026, when the company has another 20 years to its credit, the students who listened to Mr. Shen’s talk will be architects themselves, or in closely related fields. It’s wonderful, Mr. Shen concluded, to think about what technology will bring to architecture in the future.

In 2006, Shen Milsom & Wilke, in honor of the company’s 20th anniversary, established the Shen Milsom & Wilke Endowment Fund at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning. The fund supports student or faculty research in building technologies.

Mr. Shen also established a two-year scholarship fund for an undergraduate computer engineering student.

Fred Shen accepting Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award

Winners of the 2007 awards

Photo: President and CEO Fred Shen talks at World Trade Week awards breakfast while Roy W. Hoffman, event co-chairman, looks on. Photo by Jerry Spier

April 2007- Phillip Johnson, senior associate, is now manager of Shen Milsom & Wilke’s Dubai office. The company has maintained an office in Dubai since late 2001 to serve clients throughout the Middle East.

Mr. Johnson’s role includes business development, project management, and establishing short- and long-term business strategies. He brings 20 years’ experience on many different types of projects, including international airports, high-rises, corporate headquarters, and government, educational, and healthcare facilities.

The Dubai office has a staff of five, with capabilities in acoustic, information technology, multimedia, and security design. The office is actively recruiting to fuel further expansion.

Tom Shen

With two-and-a-half years of experience running the firm’s San Francisco office, Tom Shen (who formerly managed Shen Milsom & Wilke’s New York City telecommunications department) has not only increased business on the West Coast and beyond, he is also heading up the firm’s gaming/ hospitality design services and acting as project manager on several new buildings. These include the University of California at San Francisco Clinical Cancer Research Center; the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Resort & Casino, Cascade Locks, Ore.; the Intercontinental Hotel, San Francisco; and San Diego Federal Courthouse.

He recently completed work on the technologically sophisticated San Jose Civic Center in San Jose and the de Young Museum, San Francisco.

Bob Martino

Robert Martino, a veteran in the building security field, leads Shen Milsom & Wilke’s security consulting team. He has experience on many different types of projects, including international airports, office high-rises, government buildings, casinos, and healthcare facilities.

Martino’s common sense approach to security balances threat assessment, convenience, emergency planning, and budget realities. He also values collaboration among facility and building owners, security personnel, engineers, architects, and others. Martino has experience with the building security standards and guidelines issued by the General Services Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

Some of Martino’s projects include the Al Shaqab Equestrian Facility for the 2006 Asian Games, the Qatar Petroleum Ras Laffan Headquaters Complex, and the NOAA Pacific Region Tsunami Warning Center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Since he joined this company in 1994, Peter Stern has provided multimedia expertise on a range of projects including the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian; the University of Pennsylvania's The Wharton School; the American Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Ocean Life Renovation; and the Pompano Park Raceway Gaming Addition.

With more than 22 years of experience in multimedia design and consulting, Stern has worked with corporate, government, commercial, and institutional clients. His projects encompass conference rooms, performance clubs and auditoria, and command and control centers.

Kevin Eldredge "hit the ground running" when he joined Shen Milsom & Wilke in mid-2004. He has more than seven years of experience as a telecommunications infrastructure and cabling consultant. In the course of his tenure here, he's developed a set of design standards and details that is used firm wide.

Some of the projects he is at work on include the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Pacific Region Center in Honolulu; Huawei Technologies' Shanghai Campus, Shanghai; and Beijing Finance Street, F3 Project and A5 Project, Beijing. He also may be credited for much of the firm’s work at the de Young Museum, San Francisco.
February 2006

Jonathan Tulip was recently appointed manager of Sandy Brown/SM&W’s London office. He brings 20 years of experience in multimedia design and international project management.

Photo: Steve Hall © Hedrich Blessing

Shen Milsom & Wilke's work at Chicago's Crown Fountain won "Best Overall" in the third-annual ARCHI-TECH AV Awards 2005, sponsored jointly by the International Communications Industries Association and ARCHI-TECH Magazine.

The competition honors the "creative and effective" integration of technology into design projects. A six-person panel chose the winner from more than 50 international entrants representing commercial,
institutional and governmental building design.

Crown Fountain features two 50-foot-tall, water-spurting glass-block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. Behind the glass block, 24-by-49-foot LED video walls display changing digital images of Chicagoans.

Located in the new Millennium Park near the Chicago lakefront, this attention-grabbing fountain mixes video technology and water in a new way: water was never funneled through a video wall before.

Photo: © 2003 Georgia Institute of Technology

Hubert Wilke Hubert Wilke and Fred Shen