In recent years, Falmouth University has been developing their site at Tremough with the aim of creating a world-class campus. Looking to establish the University among the top five creative institutions in the world, Falmouth University commissioned the creation of a brand new facility known as AIR – The Academy of Innovation and Research.

GV Multi-media’s input resulted in the creation of a completely bespoke, networked solution that facilitates collaborative working within AIR as well as away from the site. The building houses businesses as well as research and PhD students looking develop the county of Cornwall into one of the most technologically advanced areas of the UK. Not only is AIR future-proof, it’s technologically rich enough to lead the way for technological innovation.

Situated on the ground floor of the building, the technologically rich Sandpit is a suite designed for flexible team collaboration. Falmouth University required five stations that would not only accommodate intuitive input but could also communicate with the other screens in the room as well as those elsewhere in the building. The suite features a Mediasite system to allow presentations to be captured and streamed online.

GV Multi-media installed five 55-inch LG Smart Full-HD TVs into the Sandpit. Each panel is connected to a rack-mounted PC that can be controlled via a wireless mouse and keyboard. However, their main method of control is via Kinect cameras. GV Multi-media developed a completely bespoke gesture system that allows users within AIR to control, manipulate and work on content with total ease of use and efficiency.

For videoconferencing, Falmouth University opted to use a Webex software-based VC system so as not to be hardware restricted and allow for easy upgrade in the future. To facilitate this, each of the stations features a Logitech Full-HD USB camera and a BeyerDynamic MPR-210 videoconferencing microphone.

Each station also features an Apple TV unit. This enables each screen to access online video and music content but its main purpose within AIR is its mirroring functionality which allows users to make presentations using an Apple iPad and have them streamed to the screen(s).

The 32x32 Crestron Digital Media Matrix allows video switching and routing to any of the 17 floor boxes that have been installed throughout the building. They also allow the functionality to connect other input peripherals as well, thus facilitating even further flexibility in that you can present from practically any device that will connect to the system.

AIR has also been equipped with a Mediasite presentation capture system. Coupled with the Sandpit’s already extensive wealth of functionality, Mediasite makes the Sandpit an ideal presentation space to those inside the building as well as to academics and researchers looking to access presentations remotely – either live or at another time.

The Sandpit has been fitted with a series of LED light boxes and glass writing surfaces that can display content in over two million colours. Not only is this a fantastic aesthetic touch, it also makes content more legible than black and white text, which is ideal for those suffering from dyslexia or other reading difficulties.

For a detailed view inside AIR, take a look at the video.