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     Announcements Press Releases In The News |
Spring 2005 Report If you would like more information on any of these projects or stories, please contact Jeff Wilde, Partner, at (212) 725-6800 or jwilde@smwinc.com. Center of Educational Opportunity Princeton on the Air Training Oil and Gas Specialists Sandy Brown Associates/Shen Milsom & Wilke Expand Projects, Staff Theatre Design: From Concept Development Through Construction Support Center of Educational Opportunity Avante Center for Science, Health Careers and Emerging Technologies, William Rainey Harper College, Palatine, IL
Multimedia: Shen Milsom & Wilke, Chicago Size: 288,500 square feet Completion: August 2004 Challenge: Harper College serves more than 40,000 students, many of whom graduate with technology-intensive degrees in nursing, dental hygiene, medical imaging and cardiac care. The new Avante Center needed to match the technology needs of these professions. Also multimedia systems were necessary to make it simple for instructors to do their work. Solution: Avante is Latin for "moving forward." The technology within the center's classrooms, lecture halls, laboratories, and the innovative new "Mega Lab" moves the standards of community college technology forward, putting Harper College in the same category, technologically, as many top-notch universities. Shen Milsom & Wilke designed the multimedia systems throughout. Avante houses 10 major academic programs in 38 teaching labs, nine lecture halls, 27 classrooms, as well as full-scale nursing laboratories and a working dental clinic. The academic spaces include smart podiums, high-resolution document cameras to display notes, DVDs, whiteboards and video annotation systems, and other teaching aids-all with easy-to-use touch pad controls that are identical in every room. Most important, all of the teaching centers within Avante are connected to a centralized control system that allows the college to maintain, manage, and control their presentation technology and equipment via an IP-based campus network. This network may be accessed from any network computer on campus with the proper passwords, or from the World Wide Web so that systems can be managed from remote locations. This set up allowed the college to significantly expand their technology without having to increase the number of people who manage it. Members of the IT department can stay in one centralized location and access all of the equipment in every room. At the same time, response time to instructor requests is shortened so "customer service" is improved. Princeton on the Air Radio WPRB, Bloomberg Hall
Acoustics, multimedia: Shen Milsom & Wilke, Princeton, NJ Completion: June 2004 Size: 100,000 square feet (hall); 1,800 square feet (broadcast studio) Challenge: For 58 years, Radio WPRB, a commercial, non-profit radio station operated by Princeton students, was broadcasting from antiquated quarters in the school's Holder Hall. It was time for better quarters. Solution: One of the world's strongest college radio stations, with a broadcast range that stretches from the outskirts of New York City through Philadelphia and into Wilmington, Delaware, WPRB is now in a roomy new studio with acoustics and multimedia designed by Shen Milsom & Wilke. The studio and its associated production rooms are in the basement of the new Bloomberg Hall, located at the southern edge of campus. After consulting on the facility layout, Shen Milsom & Wilke designed independent, floating wall and ceiling construction to acoustically isolate the studio from the dorm rooms located directly overhead. Shen Milsom & Wilke also designed the 30,000-watt station's broadcast and recording system, which involved the main on-air studio, mirror studio, and production studio. A multi-track recording system was also designed for the production studio. Training Oil and Gas Specialists Technical Training Center, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Houston
Multimedia, acoustics: Shen Milsom & Wilke, Houston Completion: May 2004 Size: 98,0000 square feet Challenge: Exxon Mobil, the world's largest international oil company, needed a central facility employing the latest in classroom technology to train geoscientists, engineers, and other specialists in upstream technologies for oil and gas exploration, development, production and gas marketing. Solution: To facilitate learning, Shen Milson & Wilke worked with the architect, Page Southerland Page, to create classrooms, conference areas, a visualization center, and support spaces to accommodate approximately 5,000 students per year who are studying everything from safety to geological formations to computer use. Each of the ten classrooms is equipped with bright, high-resolution projectors and high-contrast screens; a sound system that includes microphones, speakers, and amplifiers to boost audio quality; a digital document camera, DVD, VCR, satellite feed, computers and a range of presentation system equipment--all controlled from an instructor's desk. This desk includes easy-to-use touch-screen controls for multimedia equipment. Perhaps the heart of the center is the audiovisual operations center, which provides central control for the technology in the classrooms, conference rooms, and nine plasma screen displays located around the facility that display classroom schedules as well as technical information. From this space, video and audio signals can be sent to and between classrooms or monitored for help-desk assistance. The center also includes a system for professionally recording classes on DVD, VHS or hard disk. Background music is distributed throughout the lobby, mezzanine, and classrooms via ceiling-mounted speakers. Sandy Brown Associates/Shen Milsom & Wilke Expand Projects, Staff
Three recent staff appointments include Andrew Paul Smith, senior associate, a specialist in high-end product integration with 18 years of experience. He works on system design, project management, and client liaison. George Smerdon, associate, brings more than 15 years in the multimedia/audiovisual industry. He is an experienced project manager and system designer who has worked closely with both architects and installers on a variety of large scale AV projects. Colin Michael Smith comes to Sandy Brown Associates/Shen Milsom & Wilke with 18 years of experience in network infrastructure design, project management, and engineering. He is expert in airport and hospital installations. Shen Milsom & Wilke's London-based partner, Jon Burris, says the firm offers "a full, multi-disciplinary consultancy from our in-house team, making us unique in the UK." The partnership provides comprehensive services to the UK, Europe, and the Middle East. Theatre Design: From Concept Development Through Construction Support By Dana Hougland Dana Hougland is the branch director of Shen Milsom & Wilke's Denver office. Theatre design is a natural extension of Shen Milsom & Wilke's multimedia and acoustic skills and experience. Within the compact theater space, we design all systems, including theatrical lighting, sound reinforcement, seating, acoustic finishes, rigging and drapery, lifts (pit lifts, traps in stage floors), and back of house layout and spatial requirements to ensure theaters are flexible and functional. We generate full documentation, specifications, and construction drawings. For architects, working with a single consultant who provides all of these services means better design coordination and service. Also, involving us early in the design process means we can make decisions that will dramatically impact the overall shape, structure, and layout. As the design progresses, we ease the coordination of the forestage and stage areas design. This is where the majority of the sound and lighting equipment must be placed. Theaters are increasingly automated and the costs of automation are dropping. Recorded shows or amusement park theaters may be networked and controlled from a central location. In these venues, it is possible to preprogram all of the show controls-including lights, curtains, and lifts. Even in live theater, there is more integrated technology, including links to a central media center. Intelligent lights rotate, change color and effects, dim, and power up based on pre-programmed instructions. Shen Milsom & Wilke designs the networks and systems to support these technologies Motorized rigging is streamlined, compact, and more affordable. It also features better braking mechanisms-a feature that, due to safety issues, is particularly important in amateur or school theatres. Some of our recent projects include a number of sophisticated school theaters. Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas is a 400-seat theater designed by Kittrell Garlock & Associates and scheduled for completion next year. The auditorium will include motorized rigging and sophisticated lighting, and will have a black box theater that will double as a drama room. A television studio is served by a control room shared with the black box . Shen Milsom & Wilke is providing acoustic and theater design. At Gateway High School in Aurora, Colorado, designed by H+L Architecture in Denver, Shen Milsom & Wilke provided theater acoustics, and multimedia design. The 400-seat public school theater includes motorized rigging, automated lighting, and a sound reinforcement system. It also links to the school's and the district's cable television system. All theaters--professional, amateur, or school-require excellent acoustics. All of the special effects on Broadway will not make up for poor sound. And any performance will fail if the audience cannot hear or see properly. Understanding how any venue is to be used, funded, maintained, and staffed is integral to our design process. Shen Milsom & Wilke, an international technology consulting practice founded in 1986, offers comprehensive services in the areas of multimedia/audiovisual, information technology/telecommunications, building security, and acoustics. The firm has a staff of more than 140 professionals and offices in New York, Princeton, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Houston, Denver, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Dubai, Hong Kong, and London-where we have formed a partnership with Sandy Brown Associates. To unsubscribe please send an e-mail to unsubscribe@smwinc.com. You need to send from the e-mail account in which you receive the newsletter. No subject or content is needed. If you cannot send from that account, or wish to change your subscription e-mail address, mail us at smw@smwinc.com. |
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