The Quorum, University City Science Center, initiated the creation of an environment to bring together the regional business community to meet and exchange ideas and innovations in a state-of-the-art flex space that supports an entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Quorum Conference Center facilitates networking opportunities for entrepreneurs to gather, engage, and share ideas across the business community. UCSC flourished with its program initiatives and expanded with its new location, 3675 Market Street. Quorum sprawls over 15,000 square feet and two floors consisting of meeting spaces varying from small drop-in lounges, small meeting spaces to event/conference rooms tailored to individuals or groups. PSE designed A/V and technology solutions to facilitate creative and collaborative processes.
The Quorum includes multiple flex spaces, a 300-person lecture hall that can be divided for dual-use, two 20-person conference rooms utilized for meetings or overflow space for the lecture halls, and several smaller conference and meeting spaces. The areas are furnished with equipment including presentation systems, laser video projectors, very high-quality ceiling speakers, presenter inputs, touch screen control panels, touch screen annotation monitors, video conferencing cameras, and the ability to integrate with BYOD devices for webcasting or web video conferencing. Each of the two floors has multifunctional lounges and pre-function areas that can be used for networking events and/or waiting areas for the lecture halls and conference rooms. Audio systems were installed for background music, announcements, and audio from the lecture halls for use as overflow spaces.
Quorum’s versatile spaces presented challenges which PSE’s AV/IT Studio met with design considerations and approaches to accommodate the various configured and expandable spaces and conference arrangements to enhance seminars and collaborative environments. Highlights of the project included all Quorum A/V systems designed to use A/V-over-IP technology. Utilizing networked A/V products allowed PSE to design maximally flexible and configurable spaces so that Quorum can accommodate events ranging from a small group of people in a huddle room to a large event utilizing all areas on both floors. With the touch of a button on the main touch screen control panel, any video and/or audio source can be input at any input location and played at any or all output locations – all without compromising quality. This is all while utilizing standard Category-6 network cabling enterprise-grade, gigabit network switches. Utilizing A/V-over-IP technology enabled the design to house the majority of the processing and switching equipment in a single, centralized A/V closet, concealing the equipment in the user spaces behind the video display and/or above the ceiling. Perfect for maintaining clean architectural appearances.
