SHEN MILSOM WILKE



		New York \| Hong Kong \| Washington DC London \| Las Vegas \| Princeton \| Denver San Francisco \| Houston \| Chicago \| Dubai

Announcements
Press Releases
In The News

Winter 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.

Technology as Art as Technology
More Borgata in 2006
Huawei Technologies Corporate Data and Command Center, Shenzhen, China
Pumping Iron Overhead
Quelling Environmental Noise in "Acoustically Challenged" Locations

Technology as Art as Technology
The Crown Fountain, Millennium Park, Chicago

Courtesy Krueck & Sexton Architects

Architect: Kreuck & Sexton Architects, Chicago
Multimedia: Shen Milsom & Wilke, Chicago
Completion: July 2004

Challenge: In creating the new Millenium Park that now occupies the corner of Grant Park near the Chicago lakefront, planners wanted cutting edge art--something that made a statement and grabbed attention.

Solution: Crown Fountain, designed by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa, 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 1,000 people of Chicago.

Shen Milsom & Wilke designed the video walls and a remotely operated show control system that synchronizes the images, water flow, and lighting color and intensity. All of these follow a carefully orchestrated script according to time of day, week, or month.

The video images revolve around a gargoyle that emits a stream of water. They are placed so that the gargoyle, injected through the LED structure and the glass brick, is aligned with the mouth of the person in the display. At the end of each person's stint on the screen, they purse their lips and the water spurts through the gargoyle. The quarter-inch deep pool between the towers reflects and amplifies the images.

More Borgata in 2006
North Expansion, The Borgata Resort & Casino, Atlantic City

Architect: Bower Lewis Thrower Architects, Philadelphia
Telecommunications, multimedia, acoustics, data center: Shen Milsom & Wilke, New York City
Size: 315,000 square feet
Completion: Spring 2006

Challenge: No sooner had The Borgata opened in the summer of 2003 than did management realize they needed more--more gaming space, more luxurious guest rooms, more spa amenities, and more technology.

Solution: Once again, The Borgata turned to Bower Lewis Thrower Architects and Shen Milsom & Wilke for their expansion, which also includes one of the largest poker rooms in the area, more slots, additional restaurants and nightclubs, and back-of-house space.

Shen Milsom & Wilke is expanding on the technologically sophisticated casino's converged network, which delivers entertainment (background music, streaming media), marketing information, telephony needs, and information directed at patrons. The system permits plasma displays throughout the resort to receive digital multimedia streams customized for each location. The network also supports mission-critical operations, including gaming, player tracking, hotel registration, and other back-of-house functions.

Our work there also includes a second data center, which provides redundancy to the existing center and service to the expansion.

Acoustic work involves quelling noise on the gaming floor, restaurants, and other public spaces with special interior finishes

Huawei Technologies Corporate Data and Command Center,
Shenzhen, China

Courtesy RTKL--Applied Technology Group

Architect: RTKL--Applied Technology Group, Baltimore
Network Operations Center: Shen Milsom & Wilke, Washington, D.C., and Hong Kong
Size: 130,000 square feet
Completion: Summer 2003

Challenge: Huawei (pronounced wah-way) is a leading telecommunications service provider in China and overseas. They wanted a Network Operations Center (NOC) on their corporate campus that was inviting and comfortable for those who worked there, as well as highly functional.

Solution: The centerpiece of the new 50-seat NOC is a 90-foot-long video wall designed by Shen Milsom & Wilke. It's made up of 45 cubes, stacked 3 units tall by 15 units wide. Each cube measures 87 inches on the diagonal.

The cubes display information on Huawei's network, as well as news and weather stations so that operators can monitor local and world events. Shen Milsom & Wilke also consulted on the custom-designed control consoles used by the center operators.

The space includes an executive briefing room overlooking the NOC with a rear projection presentation system and video conferencing. Two nearby conference rooms offer presentation systems, including microphones, monitors, and projection systems.

Pumping Iron Overhead
Marriott Marquis Sky Lobby Fitness Center, New York City

Photo by Chris Pollock

Architect: BBG-BBGM, New York City
Acoustics: Shen Milsom & Wilke, New York City
Size: 3,000 square feet
Completion: Autumn 2003

Challenge: This Times Square hotel wanted a 24-hour fitness center atop guest rooms at its 23rd-floor sky lobby. With 30 treadmills, weight machines, and stationary bikes, the fitness center was guaranteed to be noisy, disturbing guests in the rooms below.

Solution: Shen Milsom & Wilke quieted the space by installing a platform floor that floats atop wire rope isolators--metal spring-like devices that are commonly used in the railway industry. The lightweight platform consists of multiple layers of plywood and drywall with batt insulation below. Rubberized mats form the top layer.

The entire assembly rides on poured-in-place concrete beams and wood construction.

The result? The rooms below the fitness center are quiet, even when those who are pumping iron are not.

Quelling Environmental Noise in "Acoustically Challenged" Locations
By Denis Milsom, Vice President

© Cervin Robinson
Dan M. Russell, Jr. United States Courthouse, Gulfport, Miss.
Architect: R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects, New York City, in joint venture with Canizaro Cawthon Davis, Jackson, Miss.
Acoustics: Shen Milsom & Wilke, New York City
Size: 217,000 square feet
Completion: September 2003

As good building sites become rare and urban infrastructure is increasingly crowded, architects, developers, and building owners are contending with "acoustically challenged" locations. For example, Shen Milsom & Wilke's New York City office is at work on a new residential development situated between an elevated train and a highway, and under the flight path from a nearby airport. Another project, a high-rise multifamily apartment building located near a train bridge, has a peak noise level of more than 90 dBa at the building facade.

While most projects are not so extreme, environmental legislation throughout North America and Europe recognizes noise as an environmental contaminant. Some cities and states require that noise levels within certain types of buildings meet acoustic criteria.

Environmental noise was also a problem at the Dan M. Russell, Jr. United States Courthouse, located in the central business district in Gulfport, Miss. Designed by R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects in joint venture with Canizaro Cawthon Davis, the courthouse has won a number of design awards and is acoustically comfortable, thanks to Shen Milsom & Wilke's expertise.

The facility, including an eight-story tower that accommodates eight courtrooms and a renovated high school used by community courts, is located close to railroad tracks. Frequent freight trains subject the building to the rumble of diesel engines and the honk of train horns.

Our first step at almost any location in which environmental noise is an issue, is to determine the noise at the site in order to calculate its impact on the building. This can be done with archived statistical data measured from similar sources in the past (the procedure used at the Russell Courthouse) or it can be measured with instrumentation that records hourly peaks, averages, and minimums. This testing may last for one or more days, depending on the location.

All of these measurements become part of a noise assessment study, which presents the site conditions and the options available to the designer and owner. In some locations, owners may use this study to decide whether a site should be developed, how to orient the building, and what the façade design will be.

At the Russell Courthouse, the Leq--or Equivalent Sound Level, which identifies the average sound level over a given period of time--determined the window and wall construction necessary to attenuate the amount of noise entering the building. The US General Service Administration, which sets standards for design of many government buildings, requires sensitive spaces within courthouses to be 25- to 35-dBa range.

As a result, the architect specified insulated windows and skylights with laminated glazing. Due to the sensitivity of the magistrate and special proceedings courtrooms located on the top floor of the tower, a second layer of glazing sealed with neoprene was added in the light wells to block noise entering through skylights.

Our work also included interior acoustical finishes, partition construction recommendations, door selection, and HVAC system noise control.

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.