When The University of Kansas (KU) began designing its new USD 70.5-million Capitol Federal Hall School of Business, everyone agreed that the end result had to be a building that fostered a new and higher level of collaboration between faculty, students, and visitors.
The building design called for large open spaces and interconnected common areas that, by design, promoted a greater level of serendipitous interaction between all building visitors. At the same time, the administrative, architectural and design teams also agreed that the building needed an anchor, a focal point that would immediately draw everyone’s attention. That focal point turned out to be the building’s main atrium with a strategically placed coffee bar — a coffee bar anchored by two stunningly brilliant NanoLumens NanoSlim Engage LED displays.
The building project began with The University of Kansas issuing a request for qualifications to local architect and design firms. Gensler, the world’s leading collaborative design firm, and GastingerWalker&, a full-service architecture firm known for being enthusiastic about the process of design, jointly filed the winning proposal.
GastingerWalker& Partner Dan Nenonen explained “The building was designed to foster creativity and interaction. There are all sorts of interior spaces where students, faculty, visitors, and donors, can literally bump into each other; all of the interaction starts at the coffee bar in the main atrium across from where the NanoLumens NanoSlim Engage LED displays are positioned.”
According to David Broz, Principal at Gensler, “Louis Pasteur’s quote, ‘Chance favors the prepared mind,’ served as an inspiration to the design team who operated under the belief that serendipity could not only be encouraged, it could be manufactured. The team designed flexible interior spaces that offer cues to people using them, and motivate people to connect in new ways. The design engages students by inviting authorship and offering students choice and control over where and how they learn – including the video board.”
Both NanoLumens displays feature a 2.5MM pixel pitch that enables crystal clear viewing up close and from every viewing angle, which is critical in a building featuring large open spaces. One display measures 30-feet by 7.9-feet and the second measures 15.75-feet by 3.15-feet. According to NanoLumens Director of Strategic Projects Dan Rossborough, “The building was also designed with large glass windows, which immediately eliminated the consideration of any type of projection system. Traditional LCD video walls wouldn’t work either. The only clear option was direct view LED technology and we knew we had the best offering.”
All of the building’s audiovisual elements were designed by The Sextant Group, a nationally known independent technology consulting firm that specializes in the planning and design of collaboration, presentation, communication, and entertainment spaces. “Our role was to develop the initial AV and acoustics program and design concepts, detail the audiovisual infrastructure, finalize the technical systems design, and provide construction administration for the project,” Craig Park, Principal Consultant at The Sextant Group, said. “Although the lobby displays were not part of the original architectural concept, once NanoLumens solutions were selected, they became the centerpiece of the main atrium.”
Rossborough added, “Once the idea of large format displays was added to the design plan, The Sextant Group knew that they needed a fine-pitch display solution that was big, making it a focal point in the building.” Once The Sextant Group showed the NanoLumens technology to the design team and school administrators —the ultimate project decision makers— the choice was clear”.
The Kansas City-based integration company SKC Communications was selected to install the entire building’s technology, including the NanoLumens solution. SKC Communications Director of Marketing Lacy Fox told us “From our perspective, what stood out the most on this project was the NanoLumens overall design concept for their walls, which translated into a simple implementation”.
The NanoSlim Engage solutions play a critical role in providing daily business school, university, and national news updates for students, faculty and visitors. The displays are also used for special events hosted by the School of Business during the year.
Although each of the NanoSlim Engage solutions was an investment for the University, it is one that will last them for years to come. Rossborough noted that “Our NanoLumens solution will remain state-of-the-art for years to come. It has a native screen resolution that is greater than HD, so most of the canvas content is going to be the best possible, until 4K goes native on the content development side. This technology will live out its life in the School of Business and act as a centerpiece in the building until they design and develop a new business school!”
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