MUSEUM Photo: Courtesy of Communications Engineering, Inc. July 2008 • Lighting&Sound America By : Judith Rubin elocating from Arlington, Virginia, for the Hearst Corporation Orientation exhibits, to project content onto Newseum has settled into a Theatres and the Berlin Wall exhibit. screens, and to produce sound that is brand-new, ultramodern building in Next stop is Level 7, via the central clear, contained, and intelligible. the heart of Washington, D.C., near elevator, which is an exhibit in itself, Glass is not an especially sound- the National Mall, where it anticipates traveling in a glass shaft that lets you absorptive material, yet the glass- welcoming some two million visitors admire all of its intricate workings. curtained broadcast studio used for annually. Polshek Partnership Visitors work their way down through Stephanopoulos’ show faces a major Architects LLP and museum designer the building. Their options include the thoroughfare. “Every day, police Ralph Appelbaum Associates created 9/11 Gallery, sponsored by Comcast; motorcades with blaring sirens go by the look of this glass-curtained, skylit, the Cox Enterprises First Amendment on Pennsylvania Avenue,” notes and sun-filled building, of which the Gallery; the Time-Warner World News Steve Haas of SH Acoustics, which 250,000-sq-.ft Newseum takes up Gallery; the Journalists Memorial; provided the loudspeaker layout seven levels with galleries, theatres, Pulitzer Prize Photographs; the ABC design and acoustic engineering for and event spaces, blending news Changing Exhibits Gallery; Sports most spaces of Newseum. Haas history with cutting-edge technology Theatre; Documentary Theatre; Ethics produced a computer simulation that and hands-on exhibits. The primary Center; Early News Gallery; the Walter modeled how the motorcade would funder is The Freedom Forum, a and Lenore Annenberg Theatre; the sound, using three types of exterior nonpartisan foundation. Sponsors Robert H. and Clarice Smith Big glass, which affected the final choice include an A List of prominent news Screen Theatre; the News Corporation of material for the curtain wall. agencies, as evidenced by the News History Gallery; and the Pulliam Haas implemented a strategy of naming of most galleries and theatres. Family Great Books Gallery. applying acoustic materials onto Thanks to its great view of The abundance of natural light surfaces, and incorporating highly Pennsylvania Avenue, the $450-million passing through Newseum’s generous directional sound arrays where ampli- Newseum had become a favored windows, window-walls, and skylights, fication is used, keeping levels low broadcast location even before shining on its reflective surfaces, is and clarity high even in the most opening to the public on April 11. refreshing to visitors. It also has a challenging areas. “Working with the ABC News broadcasts This Week metaphorical purpose—to symbolize architect, we came up with a wide with George Stephanopoulos every the openness and transparency that palette of materials that fit the nature Sunday from the 1,100-sq.-ft. Knight are fundamental to a free press. The of the building,” says Haas. “Because Studio on Pennsylvania Avenue. The exhibits seek to convey a definition of of the open architecture in the atrium Capitol building is clearly visible in the news and how it is created, and to and galleries, the sound travels background through the glass curtain motivate visitors to protect its free- vertically as well as horizontally. wall. This is one of two state-of-the- doms. The journalist is presented as And, because this building is about art HD TV studios in the building, the inquisitive adventurer, chronicler, and technology, materials, such as larger one being 2,800 sq. ft. a champion of the people. perforated and slatted metals and Visitors pass through the main woods, complemented what the entrance into The New York Times— architects were doing and tied into Ochs-Sulzberger Family Great Hall of the whole mission of the client.” News (the atrium space), where they The acoustician established and are met by a gigantic Barco video Open, light-filled spaces in a museum tuned five global volume presets, display and its high-resolution news present special challenges for those allowing the volume to be raised and footage. From there, it’s on to Level 1 whose task it is to shed light on the lowered in response to visitor numbers, www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • July 2008 MUSEUM and yet to stay balanced. “On opening A graphical interface allows the was going to sound hollow or boomy, day, we ran everything on #5, and it operator to create the route. The walls but it is very, very clean. It’s almost worked: everything running, not of the Great Hall support seven 10' tall uncanny when you consider you’ve got bleeding, balanced with the crowd Dakota Audio FLA line arrays fitted a huge area of terrazzo floor, all that noise, and penetrating just enough,” with 4" speakers, vertically placed and glass, and concrete balcony fronts.” says Haas. “We used a whole network complemented by Bag End S10E-I A cubicle farm of individual of Peavey NION digital signal subwoofers; custom 3" Dakota box interactive stations is found in the processors, to tonally shape and raise loudspeakers in troughs on the NBC Interactive Newsroom on Level each sound source a specific amount.” balconies; and EAW CIS400 ceiling 2, running programs that let the user Virtually all the spaces in Newseum loudspeakers over the bridges. “We role-play as a journalist, photographer, are set up to accommodate special even have feedback-free line arrays etc., each with its own mini-acoustic events of all types, and are divided behind the stage—great support for environment plus a pair of embedded into 80 sound zones that can operate an individual speaker,” notes Haas. Dakota mini-arrays arranged independently or together in order to The systems integrator, Electrosonic, horizontally in the perforated metal accommodate a wide range of Inc., installed these and most other sides of the enclosure, specified by possibilities for room setup. Thirty- loudspeakers in the building, SH Acoustics to deliver and contain two jacks, well-distributed on wall including the public-address system the sound. Each mini-array is about plates throughout the building, carry designed by Electrosonic’s business 3' long and made up of fifteen 2" CobraNet digital audio from portable development manager, Andrew Kidd, speakers. “When you’re sitting in the media consoles to the centrally located which consists mostly of EAW zone, you’re enveloped by the sound, DSP system. Each media cart is fitted CIS400s, processed by Peavey but you step back 2-3' and the sound up with a mixer, wireless mics, CD MediaMatrix NION. “Altogether, there drops off dramatically,” says Haas. player, and CobraNet interface. Each are about 800 PA speakers in the “The multiple small sources combine CobraNet connection allows the building,” says Kidd. “Steve Haas did to give you the same level as one big sound from that cart to be routed to a very good job on the acoustic treat- speaker, but each speaker can be wherever it needs to go in the building. ment. We were slightly concerned it significantly lower in level. The total The NBC Interactive Newsroom lets visitors role-play as journalists and photographers. July 2008 • Lighting&Sound America Polshek Partnership Architects LLP designed the building that houses Newseum. number of decibels is the same, but job well done in an unexpected way, system at Newseum. “There are also individual elements are not as loud. during the pre-opening test period. approximately 75 receiver frequencies, Time delays make it very precise, so “A couple of girls snuck into a bay including 25 Lectrosonics UM400 all the sound reaches your ear at the that wasn’t being used and figured body packs, 25 UT transmitters, and same time.” out how to operate it themselves,” 24 RFPL belt packs,” says Dugan. Running along the rear wall of this says Laspa. He adds that Lectrosonics’ VR Series room is a stage with a line of eight Be a TV Reporter uses modern TV Venue modular receiver systems were open video production bays that form equipment and Chromakey blue- especially helpful. “We wanted to the Be a TV Reporter experience, an screen technology from ReflecMedia move receivers and re-allocated the immediate hit with the younger set and Broadcast Pix. “The backdrop usage of systems,” he says, “so the and an enjoyable spectacle for other surface is highly reflective, and there’s VR frame concept was perfect.” The visitors. The user buys a ticket and is a ring of LED lights around the rest of the venue’s lineup of entered into the system. He or she camera lens so that, when you’re off- Lectrosonics gear includes 25 R1a chooses a backdrop and a script, and register, you see a faint green or blue belt pack receivers, two SM trans- is led by a docent through a photo glow but, when you look right into the mitters, and four UCR411a compact snap, a rehearsal, and then the ring light, it just pops into full vibrant receivers with tracking front ends, all recording process, after which he or color,” says Laspa. “The reflectivity used in two theatre spaces, three she receives a souvenir photo; one keeps the effect from breaking down conference rooms, four mobile equip- can later download one’s entire video in ambient light, which is very impor- ment carts, the central equipment from Newseum’s website. tant because the space is open to the room, and the two broadcast studios. Electrosonic handled the design, atrium and sunlight can come in.” equipment specification, installation, Lectrosonics wireless systems are commissioning, and software used throughout the facility. Nine of programming. “We had to write a fairly the company’s IFB transmitters and Barco supplied the show-stopping complex piece of software for that,” 12 RFPL bases transmit frequencies giant LED screen that is the central says Electrosonic project manager simultaneously to eight different feature of the New York Times— Dan Laspa.