In addition to meeting the design and construction requirements of a Living Building Challenge certified project, The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design had to be a fully functional building with all the technology services building users needing to perform their daily work and business. One necessary function was audio and visual (AV) services. The rigorous performance requirements presented by the Living Building Challenge created opportunities for Georgia Tech to rethink its approach on AV equipment standards across campus and leverage technology that will minimize the power consumption of typical AV solutions.

Finding an AV Solution

A joint collaboration was led between AV consultants, Newcomb and Boyd, and the Georgia Tech’s Office of Information Technology’s AV Services team. In order to meet the net-positive energy requirements of the building, the team had to reduce the amount of equipment necessary to provide core AV functions to the building – less equipment usually means less energy consumption. The solution they developed leverages the networking equipment in the building to provide the AV switching transport capabilities (in lieu of traditional AV switchers) and Power-over-Ethernet (POE) to power a majority of the AV equipment in the building.

The Kendeda Building used the AMX Harman SVSi product to transmit AV within the rooms and throughout the building. This was a highly scalable and flexible solution that used encoders and decoders on the Georgia Tech network to transmit AV from any source to any destination. This approach eliminated the limitations that are usually inherent to traditional AV switchers – namely the number of inputs and outputs of the AV switcher. Once inputs/outputs are maxed out, the switcher needs to be replaced if additional sources or display devices are needed. With the SVSi solution, all that is needed is an available port on the network switch.

Utilizing the AV Solution

This network solution met the AV needs of The Kendeda Building users and aligned with the building’s energy use requirements. Additionally, this approach utilized the campus-wide touch-panel user interface for uniformity and ease of use. Some of the audio requirements used BIAMP equipment with DANTE (Digital Audio Network Through Ethernet) to transmit audio via the network. Microphones and other audio equipment leveraged DANTE to distribute audio throughout a room or the building.

Most rooms in The Kendeda Building required users to Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD). The two classrooms rooms and the auditorium have fixed computers. Document cameras were provided, but not connected to the AV system to save energy. If users need a document camera, they could easily connect it to the HDMI connection in the rooms. This connection is available for all HDMI sources, to include but not limited to laptops, document cameras, and tablets.

Laser projectors, manufactured by Sony, are used in the rooms. These projectors consume less power than standard lamp projectors providing the same lumen output. In the mid 2010s, these laser projectors became the standard across campus. Several rooms also have built-in cameras and microphones for web-conferencing and lecture capture via the BYOD or the installed computer in the two classrooms and auditorium.

The core of the AV solution is located in the network closet. It is comprise of one main AV rack that manages all the AV solutions for each room. Because the network closet is properly conditioned for the networking equipment, it is an ideal environment for the main AV rack. 

Moving Forward

During the first full year of operation, the team evaluated the AV solutions and adjusted it as needed. The Kendeda Building transformed how we work. The AV team took these AV design ideas to the rest of campus in an effort to increase energy efficiency in all of Georgia Tech’s facilities.