London | Las Vegas | Princeton | Denver
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Spring 2007 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.
A New Twist on Television
A Better School for Nursing During Surgery, Getting Information Where it Matters Most Hearing the Word Shen Milsom & Wilke's London Office Moves Hearing Green: Using sustainable materials and techniques to quell noise A New Twist on Television ABC7 WLS-TV, Chicago Architects: Legat Architects, Chicago Multimedia, acoustics, information technology, theater lighting design: Shen Milsom & Wilke, Chicago Completion: April 2006 Challenge: Chicago’s ABC7 wanted to draw attention to their State Street studios and give Chicagoans a front-row view of newscasts.
Solution: The broadcasting heritage of 190 North State Street is famous. The building, with its white terra cotta façade, was originally a theater. It later housed the earliest television and radio stations in Chicago. Now the building is gaining attention as a tourist attraction, thanks to its twisty new outdoor display and large windows that allow the public to peer in and watch the goings-on in a working television studio. The 42-by-8-foot display sculpture, designed by Shen Milsom & Wilke with Legat Architects, includes news, computer graphics, animation, and live video. It is composed of 6-inch-square LED tiles in a steel frame. The twist is an optical illusion; all of the tiles are flat. The illusion is accomplished by offsetting the tiles slightly to accommodate the curve while electronically manipulating the images that are displayed. These images move both vertically and horizontally.
Broadcasts are oriented toward the street, giving onlookers a direct view of the anchor desk and weather center. The large, curved windows let in street noise along with the view. Shen Milsom & Wilke used custom-made laminated glass to balance the need for sound isolation while providing the station’s on-air reports with the background bustle of traffic and the rumble of the nearby train lines. Acoustic finishes are used to mitigate sound and cut reflections from all that glass within the studio as well. A Better School for Nursing
Loretta C. Ford Education Wing of Helen Wood Hall, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY Architects: King & King Architects, LLP , Manlius, NY Multimedia, acoustics: Shen Milsom & Wilke, New York City Size: 28,000 square feet wing addition and 20,000 square feet renovation Completion: July 2006 Challenge: The University of Rochester has one of the top nursing schools in the United States. The School of Nursing, which hosts about 400 students, was due for an updated building. Solution: The Loretta C. Ford Education Wing is part of an $8.1 million expansion and renovation project that will help the School of Nursing increase student enrollment, boost technological capabilities, and enhance research. The project includes a 175-seat auditorium with a state-of-the-art projection system that serves as a venue for classes, seminars, and national conferences. The space also has new and renovated classrooms with wireless and smart classroom technology and video conferencing capability. The design includes a courtyard off the lounge with “contemplation” gardens for reading and retreat. A plaza provides exterior access to the auditorium and new Ford Education Wing. The one-story structure is ready for future vertical expansion. During Surgery, Getting Information Where it Matters Most Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Surgical Center, New York City Architects: Granary Associates, New York City; KMD Architects, San Francisco; Perkins Eastman, New York City Multimedia, telecommunications, acoustics: Shen Milsom & Wilke, New York City Completion: May 2006
Challenge: Keeping everyone in the operating room constantly informed about the patient’s vital information is not easy. Additionally, communicating with sources outside the operating room during surgery—physicians or labs, for example--can improve quality of care. Solution: A product of ten years of research and collaboration among nurses, physicians, anesthesiologists, and information technologists, Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s new Surgical Center features 21 innovative, high-technology operating rooms that reflect the needs of staff while offering improved patient safety. Shen Milsom & Wilke, under the direction of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s information technology staff, helped design the center’s complex multimedia system and IT infrastructure. The most striking feature in the new ORs is the Wall of Knowledge--four 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 includes video of the ongoing surgery, lab 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. Real-time audiovisual communication between the ORs and pathology and other departments (or even outside offices) allows surgeons to ask for pathology details, or other information. Procedures may be recorded on request, then broadcast via Internet for educational purposes. Cameras, lights, and microphones are on booms wherever possible to provide flexibility and keep the ORs simple and open. A centralized control space allows an operator to remotely control OR multimedia technology, and to broadcast, record, and archive various procedures. Hearing the Word Buckley Air Force Base Chapel, Aurora, CO
Architect: HB&A, Colorado Springs, CO Acoustics, multimedia: Shen Milsom & Wilke, Denver Size: 23,900 square feet Completion: Summer 2006 Challenge: Buckley Air Force Base Chapel, designed to serve all faiths, seats 800 individuals in the main chapel. Accommodating such a large group and making words and music clearly audible is problematic. Solution: Buckley Air Force Base is home to more than 10,000 men and women who provide global surveillance, worldwide missile warning, homeland defense, and expeditionary forces. The Chapel serves as the primary religious facility. Words and music are clear, thanks to Shen Milsom & Wilke’s acoustic design. Ceiling clouds below the exposed roof structure and over the chancel canopy maintain speech intelligibility but allow music to reverberate throughout the fan-shaped interior space. Absorptive panels on the curved rear walls control sound reflections. The worship area utilizes a point source audio system and speakers. An audio mixing console is located in the worship space, while multimedia controls are in a separate room adjacent to the sanctuary. A wireless intercom system allows coordination between the two control spaces. Shen Milsom & Wilke’s design work included audio, multimedia, and performance lighting systems that allow the chancel area to be transformed, when needed, into a performance platform. Shen Milsom & Wilke’s London Office Move Shen Milsom & Wilke recently moved its London office to accommodate a growing staff and a high volume of projects. The office now has a staff of multimedia, information technology, and building security professionals, and is actively recruiting to fuel further expansion within the next six months.
Projects encompass the European and Middle Eastern markets, and beyond, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates; De Montfort University ART Laboratories and Studios in Leicester, England, De Montfort University Estates Team; Harvard Medical School Dubai Center, NBBJ and Arif & Bintoak; Latham & Watkins in London, HLW; London Guildhall, T P Bennett Architects; and the National Library of Latvia, Gunnar Birkerts Architects, Inc. The new London address is: Hearing Green: Using sustainable materials and techniques to quell noise By Dana Hougland Dana Hougland is the branch director of Shen Milsom & Wilke’s Denver office. While many people are unaware of how much noise impacts their life, there is conclusive evidence that noise equals stress. Conversely, quiet and a sense of privacy contribute to the quality and comfort of the environment. Reducing noise pollution with sound-absorbing interior finishes, design that minimizes noise, and HVAC systems, appliances, and electronics that are quiet, and other techniques, makes buildings better--and greener. The US Green Building Council’s LEED standards include good acoustics as a means to garnering building performance points. Several publications, including the Green Guide for Health Care, a best practices guide for building design for the healthcare industry; and ASHRAE’s The Green Guide: The Design, Construction, and Operation of Sustainable Buildings, highlight acoustics as contributing to a building’s sustainability. Shen Milsom & Wilke’s acoustic work is increasingly incorporated in green buildings. Ironically, green design can contribute to poor acoustics. Projects that limit finish materials and open up space for natural airflow may have fewer sound-absorbing surfaces, making acoustics an issue--particularly in conference areas. Encouraging natural lighting by introducing a lot of glass is another acoustic challenge. For these reasons, working with an acoustic designer may be even more important for green projects. Acoustics are particularly important in high-rise residential projects, office environments (which are less fatiguing when they are quiet), and such carefully controlled settings as schools and courthouses. Two recent projects with acoustic design by Shen Milsom & Wilke, the Cape Girardeau Federal Courthouse in Cape Girardeau, MO, by Fentress Bradburn Architects, Ltd. (see sidebar), and Byron G. Rogers U.S. Courthouse in Denver, by Bennett Wagner & Grody Architects, P.C., illustrate not only the role of quiet in creating better interiors, but how acoustic materials themselves can be greened. Cape Girardeau Federal Courthouse is a highly sustainable building while Byron Rogers Courthouse has a LEED Gold rating.
Incorporating these materials--those that are renewable, incorporate recycled content, are locally manufactured, and don’t require a lot of smelly adhesives or chemicals to install--is an exploratory process. Shen Milsom & Wilke works on their specification with project architects, interior designers, and, in some cases, clients. Some of these products are not attractive and require creativity and proper detailing to make them usable. We try to get involved in the design process early so we can better suggest a group of materials that might meet the client’s needs and obtain samples. However, as green architecture becomes more important, the number of environmentally favorable acoustic products is growing. Some examples of these include cotton acoustical batts with recycled content; fiber-free duct lining (which doesn’t shed so improves air quality); sound-control gypsum drywall with recycled content; wood-fiber, formaldehyde-free acoustical wall and ceiling panels; and recycled-glass wall panels that are washable and inert. Green design respects nature and the natural order of things. It minimizes the negative human impacts on the natural surroundings, materials, resources and processes that prevail in nature. Preserving quiet, or creating it in the face of noisy HVAC equipment, heavy traffic, or just the day-to-day sounds of living and working, contributes to green design and makes the world a more comfortable place. Shen Milsom & Wilke, is an international technology consulting practice founded in 1986. The company offers comprehensive services in the areas of multimedia, information technology, building security, and acoustics. The firm has a staff of more than 150 professionals and 11 offices worldwide. |
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