InfoComm International and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the completion of a major upgrade to audiovisual systems at the AIA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The project was the result of a collaboration between InfoComm and the AIA in which InfoComm members donated products and services to address the AIA’s changing technology needs.

“This project provided an opportunity for the audiovisual and architectural associations to work together and demonstrated the types of professional collaborations that our members are capable of,” said David Labuskes, executive director and CEO, InfoComm International. “Technology solutions that are coordinated closely among AV professionals, architects, and clients consistently outperform systems that are not and result in exceptional experiences.”

The AIA required significant upgrades to the audiovisual systems in its boardroom and adjacent areas. Not only does the AIA hold its own meetings and events in the spacious, irregularly-shaped room, it also rents the space to nearby organizations.

“Our board members, most of whom are architects, are visual people,” said Richard James, chief operating officer of the AIA. “Our interest was in updating the quality of the technology in our boardroom, which can be an expensive task. InfoComm and its partners worked with our technical staff to determine exactly what we needed and then found a group of willing donors of the necessary equipment. We appreciate their very generous contributions.”

The process began in November 2010, when InfoComm issued a request for proposals to it members. K2 Audio, of Boulder, Colo., was chosen to perform the pro-bono design.

“Some of our biggest clients are architects, so it seemed like a nice way to give something back and at the same time showcase to them the capabilities we have as an AV design firm,” said Deb Britton, K2 Audio’s CEO and principal consultant. “As consultants, we frequently team with architects on design projects. We work with them on everything from churches, to schools, to performing arts centers, to corporate headquarters. In fact, it’s more common than not that we work for an architect, as part of the design team, than the building owner. In those situations, we basically take the project from programming and schematic design to construction and administration.”

K2 Audio grew out of Peak Audio in 2005. Peak Audio developed groundbreaking audiovisual technologies such as CobraNet, which became a popular standard for transmitting uncompressed, multichannel, digital audio over standard Ethernet networks. K2 Audio’s long-time customers include the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

“It’s not your typical boardroom, with a rectangular table and 20 people sitting around it,” said K2 Audio Senior Consultant Rodrigo Ordóñez, CTS-D. “This is a large, round room with about 50 positions for AIA board members.”

Among the upgrades was an overhaul of the boardroom’s legacy conferencing system, which previously was not tied into its public address system. Program audio was routed to ceiling speakers throughout the space, but conference audio was limited to the room’s speaking positions. “This meant that for people sitting in overflow areas and not at the speaking positions, there was no sound reinforcement,” Ordóñez explained.

K2 Audio also included in its design a new videoconferencing system, which presented a significant opportunity to the AIA. “Introducing that capability increases the likelihood that we can rent the boardroom to outside parties,” said James.

The project wrapped up in time for the AIA’s December 2012 Board Meeting. Applied Visual Communications (AVC) of Herndon, Va., handled the installation and provided on-site support during the important meeting.

“The AIA was a great customer. They understood the technology, had a good handle on what they needed, and could vocalize it,” said Dante Ross, CTS, project manager for AVC.

In addition to K2 Audio’s design, the follow audio/video manufacturers donated equipment to the AIA project:

• Biamp Systems donated audio processing systems
• Chief Manufacturing donated display mounts
• Cisco Systems donated the videoconferencing system and network switch
• Da-Lite Screen Co. donated the boardroom’s 16:9 projection screen
• Extron Electronics donated the control system, control panels, signal processing equipment
• Listen Technologies donated the assistive listening system
• Middle Atlantic Products donated equipment racks, cable management, and power strips
• projectiondesign donated a F82 Series, 10,000-lumen projector and lens

“We were very happy that it all came together before the December board meeting, because our Board selects the Architecture Firm and AIA Gold Medal recipients from among several finalists whose work is projected on-screen,” said James. “During the meeting, AIA CEO Robert Ivy explained the features of the new systems and the thanked the companies that donated them. The significant improvements were very well received.”

The AIA’s new audiovisual system also now includes a modest digital signage network for announcements and room scheduling, which the AIA is considering expanding in order to route video sources from the boardroom to screens in other areas of the building.
“They were great to work with,” said K2 Audio’s Ordóñez. “Everyone was responsive. Once some of the high level design decisions were made, the technical designs went very smoothly.”

Photos of the AIA boardroom and AV systems can be found on InfoComm’s Flickr feed at bit.ly/InfoCommAIA.