Northwestern University
Empowering Student Engagement with Interactive Learning through AV Technology
When Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law opened the Atrium Expansion, a three-story addition to the School’s Rubloff Atrium, they turned to Diversified to design and integrate the new AV technology. The new space includes additional study areas, Savner Hall (a 25-seat classroom that incorporates interactive learning through AV technology to enhance the teaching and learning experience), and an expanded café. The University and architect were steadfast in their desire for AV systems that were not only functional but also aesthetically designed to seamlessly blend.
During the design phase, Diversified met with the project team and developed solutions that met the University’s criteria. The high-tech vision for a “flipped classroom” required intuitive presentation systems that would allow students to share content simultaneously for interactive discussions. This highly interactive classroom design arranges groups of students at pods with the ability to display their desktops in a quad-split or single image format, both locally at each pod’s display or at any other display in the room for a more collaborative environment.
Additionally, Diversified installed 8 huddle rooms, or “study spaces”, with 55″ flat panel displays for presentation and a Crestron panel for basic system control. The Atrium and café areas consisted of two combinable spaces with audio and video presentation capabilities. The integration is based on Crestron DM architecture and both areas in the main atrium space feature 7000 Lumen HD Panasonic projectors for display and a combination of indoor and outdoor speakers for reproduction of program audio in 5 individually controllable zones.
Diversified and its selected vendors provided Northwestern with reliable, affordable and easy-to-use content-presentation solutions. The School fulfilled its goal of enabling students to participate in a more innovative and interactive teaching style. As a result of this project’s success, Northwestern is looking to Diversified to lead additional AV project in their upcoming renovations.
