The West Michigan Construction Institute (WMCI) was founded and built with the mission to educate the current and future generations of tradespeople in the construction industry. Buist’s Automation, Communications, and Audio Visual departments worked diligently and carefully on this building in order to equip it for those who work there with the technology they need to best prepare their students.
Our Communications department installed a total of 205 Category 6 network cables throughout the WMCI building. These cables bring data and power to various equipment such as clocks, wireless access points, speakers, cameras, printers, computers, phones, and more.
This also allowed our Audio Visual department to carefully consider, design, and implement the systems that would best serve WMCI. In each of the seven classrooms, Buist AV installed short-throw NEC laser projectors, SoundTube pendant IP speakers, Visionary Solutions video encoders and decoders, Atlona video switchers, Mersive Solstice Pods, and Crestron touch panel controls for a fully integrated IP based solution. The Audio Visual department also designed custom lecterns which have Elmo document cameras for displaying paper documents and other non-digital items, as well as storing all of the AV control equipment. Instructors now have two options when presenting in the classrooms. They can either attach their computers at the lectern via HDMI or they can use the Mersive Solstice Pod wireless casting feature to cast and present seamlessly. All systems are centrally controlled by a Creston control processor for video and controls, and a QSC DSP for audio processing and control. The six primary classrooms can be combined into three larger classrooms using the Crestron touch panel, allowing WMCI to adapt to different class sizes.
Our Audio Visual department installed paging and emergency notification systems throughout the building. These systems include Advanced Network Devices’ Clockwise Campus, which allows WMCI to send customized audio, video, and strobe alerts simultaneously in emergency situations. They can also use this system to send ad-hoc pages and stream background music.
Within WMCI is a large common space where Buist Audio Visual installed a 86” Panasonic 4K display, a Visionary Solutions decoder, and a Mersive Solstice pod along with a Crestron touch panel for control. This system can be used for large presentations by using the Mersive Solstice Pod for casting and present seamlessly for any type of device or operating system. Mersive system can also to display customized digital signage content. Cable television services for this space are also available via the Visionary solutions encoder and a single cable box located in the data closet.
In the hallways, our team installed two 43” 4K NEC displays with Mersive Solstice Pods to display custom digital signage. The content displayed on these screens can be controlled by staff using a web-based interface.
In the offices and conference rooms our AV department installed 65” NEC 4K displays, each with a Creston soundbar, integrated microphones, and cameras. Users can easily connect to these systems for presentations using HDMI or USB cables.
For easy portable conferencing our AV team built an electric floor lift cart which included a Clevertouch Impact Plus 65” 4K interactive touchscreen display with integrated open platform communications (OPC), and a Crestron soundbar with integrated microphones and cameras. The OPC allows anyone to connect and utilize any conferencing platform for their meetings and presentations.
With all Buist did at WMCI comes the unique opportunity to have our work on display for the next generation of trades men and women that are being taught. Buist is proud to have been a part in the construction of WMCI and is excited to see the impact in which this new school will have.
