Page 26 - spaces4learning, January/February 2020

spaces4learning HIGHER ED TECHNOLOGY
User Services, and Academic Computing Services at the school. “Visitors encounter video even before they enter the center,
with digital signage out in front,” West explained. “AV di- rects them throughout the building, from the video walls and touchscreen kiosks in the front, through a hallway lined with screens, to a video wall at the end. It all leads to a conference center with 12-foot screens, short-throw projectors and sup- porting 82-inch displays programmed with custom content. It’s intended to be an immersive experience — and it is.”
School officials say the technology has improved the flow
multitouch LCD video wall, a 3D LCD video wall and 4K and full HD LCD displays. Many of these displays are interactive, equipped with multitouch technology, and offer wired and wireless access to computers, laptops, tablets and other sources. They can function as split-screen classroom whiteboards and allow wireless sharing of information, ideas and projects, as well as support digital signage, wayfinding, distance learning and videoconferencing.
Displays are designed into nearly every level of the building, and in a wide variety of locations. For example, the first-floor
Clemson University’s Watt Center auditorium features an interactive video wall measuring nearly 290 square feet.
of people and processes, from recruiting freshmen to con- necting them with prospective employers. Bringing together admissions, financial aid and career-counseling at the Queally Center and sharing AV technology assets allows the school to present a more united, cutting-edge front to students at all stages of their education.
2) Communicating Innovation
Often, when colleges design and develop signature facilities, such as North Carolina State’s Hunt Li-
The Watt Center’s interactive displays offer wired and wireless access to computers, laptops, tablets and other sources.
Photos Courtesy of Clemson University
lobby and atrium, which sees some 50,000 visitors per year,
is equipped with five video walls of different sizes and they all showcase the display’s interactive capability in a very high-traf- fic environment. The second floor includes a large classroom and ad hoc spaces for student collaboration, while the Academic Resource Center features large 98-inch interactive displays showing how to use advanced instructional technology.
The third floor is the main academic area, with classrooms, workspaces and breakout rooms for student and staff collaboration.
brary, audiovisual technology is practically a required building material, included
to help communicate the building’s and university’s mission. Clemson University’s Watt Family Innovation Center, which opened in 2016, exemplifies the school’s commitment to delivering a 21st-century education. The four-story, state-of-the-art facility garnered well-deserved attention for its devotion to interactive learning (winning a Campus Technology Innovators Award in 2016), but the unsung hero has been the AV experiences it supports.
The Watt Center was designed around and operates on a complement of nearly 200 displays, including an enormous
WEAVING MODERN AV SOLUTIONS INTO THE CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE EXPOSES STUDENTS TO NEW MODES OF COLLABORATION THAT WILL SERVE THEM WELL IN THE WORKFORCE.
Classroom technology includes 2D and 3D video walls for advanced data visualization and geographic information system (GIS) instruction and a variety of LCD displays — both installed and on movable carts — that are wireless and touch enabled. The Watt Center’s auditorium, a 187-seat space, features an interactive video wall measuring nearly 290 square feet, used for large presen- tations and custom applications.
At Oregon Health and Science University’s (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute, building designers had intended for the institute’s new 320,000-square- foot building to exploit an array of ground-floor windows to tell its story. But excessive light coming from outdoors
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