Advanced AV Infrastructure at DCU’s Polaris Building
Overview
As our largest audio visual project to date, The Polaris Building at Dublin City University represents a significant milestone for Hereworks, highlighting our expertise in developing and managing large-scale, complex AV infrastructure.
About the Project
The Polaris Building is a landmark facility designed to elevate STEM teaching, learning and reaching to new heights. Located at the entrance to DCU's Glasnevin campus, this state-of-the-art building spans 10,000 square metres and accommodates over 3,000 students from the Faculty of Science and Health and the Faculty of Engineering and Computing.
The Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) features state-of-the-art spaces such as the Technology Innovation Lab, Life Lab, Movement Lab, and Biomechanics Lab. These areas are specifically designed to support challenge-based learning, interdisciplinary research, and community engagement, making the Polaris Building a hub for innovation and collaboration.
The Task
DCU aimed to create a modern, adaptable educational facility that could meet current educational needs and offer sufficient scalability to accommodate future developments in the rapidly growing field of STEM.
The university recognised the need for a robust AV infrastructure to enable hybrid learning, immersive research environments, and interdisciplinary collaboration. DCU's vision was to create an environment that facilitated both traditional in-person learning and remote experiences, allowing for seamless collaboration across different disciplines.
The university sought to create "borderless classrooms" where students and faculty could engage in dynamic, real-time collaboration, regardless of physical location.
The Solution
DCU has worked with Hereworks since starting their digital transformation in 2016. This longstanding partnership has enabled us to understand DCU's long-term vision, making Hereworks the perfect choice for providing the AV infrastructure at the Polaris Building.
We began work on this project by collaborating closely with university staff and faculty to identify their specific needs and challenges. This ensured that our solutions were tailored to meet their unique requirements.
To achieve DCU's goal of creating "borderless classrooms," we implemented a 100% networked AV architecture. This innovative approach allowed for seamless integration of all AV devices within a unified digital ecosystem. Using AV-over-IP technology eliminates the need for traditional cabling, enabling more flexible room layouts and future scalability. The Crestron NVX technology we deployed ensures high-quality video and audio signal distribution across the building, supporting various applications such as lecture capture, distance learning, and real-time collaboration.
Centralised control was a key component of our solution. We integrated the Crestron VC-4 virtual control processor, which provides a robust and reliable platform for managing all AV devices. This server-based architecture allows for centralised control and seamless user interaction, ensuring that faculty and students can easily operate the technology. The system was designed with redundancy measures to maintain operation even in the event of hardware failure, ensuring uninterrupted service.
Audio management was another critical aspect of the project. We used the QSC Core 610 digital signal processor (DSP) integrated with Dante® Networked Audio to deliver high-quality sound throughout the building. This setup provides clear and synchronised audio in lecture halls, meeting rooms, and specialised labs, enhancing the overall learning experience. Shure wireless microphones and advanced audio capture technologies allow instructors and speakers to move freely while maintaining excellent audio quality.
We incorporated AVer's advanced video conferencing systems to support hybrid learning environments. These systems enable real-time interaction between remote and on-site participants, fostering an inclusive and flexible educational environment. The Crestron AirMedia provides wireless presentation capabilities, allowing users to share content effortlessly from their own devices. This flexibility is crucial in hybrid learning settings, where participants may be in different locations but still need to collaborate seamlessly.
We integrated high-quality audio-visual components such as Panasonic projectors and Samsung displays in specialised spaces like the Movement Lab and Robotics Lab. Epiphan streaming tools and advanced video conferencing setups enable global collaboration, allowing researchers to work together in ways that were not possible before.
Crestron XiO Cloud® facilitates remote management and monitoring. This cloud-based platform allows administrators to oversee the entire AV infrastructure from anywhere. This technology streamlines operations, reduces downtime, and ensures that technical issues can be addressed swiftly without requiring physical access to the systems.
Award Recognition
The Polaris Building project has been recognised for its excellence in AV integration. Hereworks won the "Best Crestron Ecosystem Project Powered by XiO Cloud® Technology" at the Crestron 2024 Europe Integration Awards. This prestigious award highlights our innovative use of Crestron solutions to deliver outstanding results for DCU. More details about our award success can be found here.
Results!
The Polaris Building now features a state-of-the-art AV infrastructure that supports hybrid learning, immersive research, and global collaboration. This project has elevated DCU's digital campus, setting a new benchmark for technology-driven education and positioning the university as a leader in innovation. The AV systems enable seamless interaction between in-person and remote participants, fostering an inclusive and flexible educational environment.
The building's scalable and futureproof design ensures it can adapt to emerging technologies and changing educational needs, providing long-term value to DCU. The integration of advanced AV systems has significantly improved the overall learning experience, allowing students and faculty to engage in dynamic, real-time collaboration. The immersive learning environments and high-quality audio-visual components have enhanced interactivity and engagement, supporting innovative teaching methods and collaborative research.
The successful delivery of the Polaris Building project demonstrates Hereworks' ability to manage large-scale, complex installations and deliver solutions that align with the client's vision. By leveraging our expertise in AV technology and our longstanding partnership with DCU, we have created a modern, adaptable educational facility that will continue to support the university's goals for years to come.
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What the client said...
Polaris is designed as an immersive ecosystem that actively breaks down boundaries, sparking collaboration across subjects and between groups, inside and outside the University. Active learning spaces like the industry robotics and tech innovation labs will help students collaborate with industry and peers across the world. This facility will further advance DCU’s international reputation for excellence in science, computing and engineering disciplines. It has the capacity to accommodate over 3000 additional STEM students on the university’s Glasnevin campus.
Hereworks implemented various AV solutions to help us deliver our goals, including a significant number of Crestron technologies. Hereworks installed the VC-4 server that runs programs to control multiple rooms over the network from a single centralised location and implemented cloud-based monitoring using the XiO Cloud® service. Crestron’s 1 Beyond video technology brings the full multi-camera studio experience into our classrooms. Camera switching and movement is done automatically based on the location of the active speaker participant, enabling the best video experience for both in-room and remote students. Crestron’s fixed and wireless touch panels offer us the flexibility to control content and access video streams while on the move, and this is a key feature for delivering practical engineering demonstrations. Crestron’s AirMedia® provided a wireless presentation solution that fits the configurable and collaborative designs of our rooms.
One of our big challenges in DCU is dealing with very large student numbers, and Crestron’s NVX® AV over IP technology allowed us to distribute any content over our network creating connected classrooms. XiO director facilitated the configuration, control and management of this large-scale AV network using NVX encoder and decoder endpoints. We now have a multi-campus solution to stream content in a flexible, scalable and secure manner.
DCU has worked with Hereworks on multiple projects since we started our digital transformation in 2016. The quality of service, level of knowledge and expertise have made them a key partner in how we have progressed our technologies. Hereworks is a Crestron certified integrator, and a company that that could design a technology blueprint to fit our goals. Every stage of the process from brainstorming sessions, installation and program design was to a very high standard and their Crestron programmers delivered on everything we hoped to achieve with this project.
Keith Hickey
What the client said...
Polaris is designed as an immersive ecosystem that actively breaks down boundaries, sparking collaboration across subjects and between groups, inside and outside the University. Active learning spaces like the industry robotics and tech innovation labs will help students collaborate with industry and peers across the world. This facility will further advance DCU’s international reputation for excellence in science, computing and engineering disciplines. It has the capacity to accommodate over 3000 additional STEM students on the university’s Glasnevin campus.
Hereworks implemented various AV solutions to help us deliver our goals, including a significant number of Crestron technologies. Hereworks installed the VC-4 server that runs programs to control multiple rooms over the network from a single centralised location and implemented cloud-based monitoring using the XiO Cloud® service. Crestron’s 1 Beyond video technology brings the full multi-camera studio experience into our classrooms. Camera switching and movement is done automatically based on the location of the active speaker participant, enabling the best video experience for both in-room and remote students. Crestron’s fixed and wireless touch panels offer us the flexibility to control content and access video streams while on the move, and this is a key feature for delivering practical engineering demonstrations. Crestron’s AirMedia® provided a wireless presentation solution that fits the configurable and collaborative designs of our rooms.
One of our big challenges in DCU is dealing with very large student numbers, and Crestron’s NVX® AV over IP technology allowed us to distribute any content over our network creating connected classrooms. XiO director facilitated the configuration, control and management of this large-scale AV network using NVX encoder and decoder endpoints. We now have a multi-campus solution to stream content in a flexible, scalable and secure manner.
DCU has worked with Hereworks on multiple projects since we started our digital transformation in 2016. The quality of service, level of knowledge and expertise have made them a key partner in how we have progressed our technologies. Hereworks is a Crestron certified integrator, and a company that that could design a technology blueprint to fit our goals. Every stage of the process from brainstorming sessions, installation and program design was to a very high standard and their Crestron programmers delivered on everything we hoped to achieve with this project.
Keith Hickey
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