Videoconferencing: It's All About Location

By Steve Thorburn, in the June 2009 Archi-Tech:
"The goal for a good video-conferencing room is really quite straightforward. It’s all about location, location, location – for cameras, microphones, and displays, supported by uniform indirect lighting and acoustical treatments."

Read the full article here.

Thorburn Associates at InfoComm: Seven Sessions and a Blog

"Successful placemaking demands spaces that nurture human community through the integration of technical systems design and modern building design -- in facilities, campuses, offices, leisure attractions, museums, and performing arts centers. We call this practice Acoustically Integrated aRchitecture, or AIR. It is the foundation of the seven educational sessions we will present this year at InfoComm in Orlando, June 14-19, and of our outreach blog," says Steven J. Thorburn.

Adding a new layer this year, TA will reach out online during InfoComm via a daily editorial on the blog Bemusement, which is published on the industry website Blooloop.com. The blog will be penned by Steve Thorburn and will share observations, impressions, news and even a little name-dropping.

Read the press release here.

All Buildings are Now Theaters

Modern building design demands partnership between tech designers and architects
by Steve Thorburn

"What we're now seeing is that the integration of acoustics, engineering and architecture that is standard practice in a performing arts center is also a necessity in most every new project, because of the amount of audiovisual equipment and other technology involved. As a result, they all require a level of integrated design in the early stages comparable to what is common practice in theater development. In a very real sense, all buildings are now theaters..." Full story here.

Image of SF federal Building, courtesy sf.curbed.com

Seven Steps of Tech Design Success

by Steve Thorburn, published on Blooloop.com and in the TEA Annual & Directory

Even the most problem-solving genius of a tech designer cannot overcome the laws of physics. I challenge you to go a day without a technical glitch somewhere – if it’s not on your computer or company network, it will be your phone, the GPS in your car, or perhaps the touch-panel on your dishwasher... Read the full article here.

Don't Change Out Film Systems for Digital Prematurely

For Small Theaters, Digital Cinema Has Benefits - For Big Theaters, Stick with Film (for now)
Article by Steve Thorburn, published in IPM Magazine.

"Digital cinema has come a long way since and has some excellent applications for theaters, but still isn’t the best choice for every situation. There are benefits: print cost goes away, the last run of the image is just as good as the first, a multiplex can quickly reschedule theaters based on today’s ticket sales. But for theaters with screens wider than 20 feet, you pay a price in image quality..." Full story here.

How to Issue an RFP/RFQ

The RFQ (request for quotation/qualifications) and RFP (request for proposal) are basic tools of project development, providing a control for identifying and evaluating designers, contractors and suppliers.
Article by Lisa Thorburn, published by Blooloop.

"Designing an appropriate and goal-oriented document of this kind takes both time and planning. To get back the best and most accurate quotes or proposals, you must be willing to provide all of the information known about the project. This is no time to withhold facts – the contractor or vendor must be fully briefed on what you seek to accomplish in order to properly assess and communicate their ability and cost to complete your project. If you have drawings already available, even if they are basic sketches, provide them. The old adage, “an image is worth a thousand words,” really holds true during a design or creative process." Full story here.

Great Expectations

Do you know what your client expects from a project? Currently, we’re experiencing life from the client side of the fence, and learning from the experience.
Article by Steve Thorburn, published in Systems Contractor News.

"We grew, we ran out of room, and nobody liked the idea of running a second shift. So we plunged into the office space Realtor thing. We located a spot that is better than our existing space. Then came the build-out plan. Being savvy AV designers who continually deal with space planning, we whipped up our base plan in about two hours and then spent the next month refining it. Our new landlord took the plan and gave it to an architectural firm voted one of the “best places to work” in the area.

I admit I got a little ruffled, professionally, at the first teleconference— when the architect began to instruct us about the design process and about how architects work, and then said the project would take six months (three times longer than the lease contract allowed.) It dawned on me that they had not prepared for our meeting..." Full story here.