Imperial College London

Following a nine month development period, designs were agreed for the two spaces with one emerging based around the College’s standard lecture theatre design in a Harvard style. The other developed into an innovative, flexible divisible collaborative space for group or whole room learning, featuring two 8×2 video walls, 2 pairs of projectors, a Wolfvision Cynap system for BYOD collaboration and to manage the source routing, and finally a Crestron control system.

The Cynap system was a new technology to the College and needed to go through a network approval process prior to being given the green light for deployment. Reflex and Wolfvision worked closely with the College’s AV Technology Manager, end users and ICT departments to gain approval.

Work was due to commence on site during Q2 of 2020 however this was understandably delayed due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic also brought about a clear requirement for the space to be redesigned to accommodate the Business School’s new multimodal method of teaching. This involved the introduction of additional confidence screens, microphone arrays, Zoom PCs, cameras, and DSPs in both spaces, as well as a redesign of the core switching functionality to bring in a 32×32 Crestron DigitalMedia™ multiformat switcher to sit at the heart of the system for the divisible space. These changes were made at a late stage in the process and involved a high degree of coordination between the College, the main contractors and Reflex’s design engineer and project manager.

The final commissioning of the rooms took place in January 2021 ready for a successful, if low key, opening shortly thereafter.

The space can be used as a single large space or split into two smaller teaching spaces via a folding partition. Each side of the room has a magnificent, curved LCD wall, comprising sixteen ultra-narrow-bezel 55-inch panels. These are configured as four 4k UHD displays. When the partitions are in place there are also two pairs of high-definition projectors and drop-down screens on each side of the divide for conventional teaching.

The Crestron DigitalMedia™ matrix routes the sources to the video walls and projectors. There are several sources to choose from: Cynap, laptop input, signage, or Zoom Rooms. This enables the room to be set up in different modes quickly and easily, enabling lecturers to get on with teaching.

The displays are driven by a Wolfvision Cynap collaborative learning system, enabling groups to work on a display each, while the lecturer can share content between groups or to the whole room. This works with the partitions open or closed. The Cynap lecture capture option pack also integrates with Panopto, so lectures can be recorded and viewed again by students afterwards.

The Cynap system can also be fed into Zoom calls for multimodal teaching, enabling remote participants to see the collaborative work being done in the space.

The multiple displays complement the flexible seating arrangement with attendees typically sitting in workgroups of 6 with a small custom TopTec podium for the presenter.

The podium includes an angled housing for the control system touch panel and secure pass through cables for connection of a laptop when more traditional teaching is required. In general, a lecturer is free to roam the space, interacting with Cynap via a tablet or other device, with no need to be rooted to the lectern. The Business School is actively exploring flipped and collaborative learning approaches, and this space is a key element of the strategy.

When combined, the overall space is also a Zoom Room with Aver cameras providing video feeds and Shure ceiling microphone arrays capturing audio for remote learning. This set-up ensures excellent sound quality for remote participants. Voice reinforcement, programme sound, and the far end in Zoom calls are presented to the room via a set of ceiling speakers to ensure even coverage throughout the space.

For open days and other events, one of the LCD walls is also driven from a set of ONELAN digital signage players.