The Edward M. Kennedy Institute (EMK Institute) opened its doors to the public on March 31, 2015.
The institute, which is a part of the UMass Boston campus, received a technology upgrade from Electrosonic. The technology upgrade included AV-engineering, integration and programming to help the institute educate visitors about the U.S. Senate and its history.
The EMK Institute features a full-scale Senate Immersion module of the Senate chamber located in Washington D.C., and a recreation of Senator Kennedy’s office in the northeast corner of the building.
The institute also features three additional components, including:
• Three long hallways that feature technology displays and exhibits
• Six classrooms for closer interactions with the exhibits
• A space with the full-size mockup of the Senate chamber
Bryan Abelowitz, Sales Consultant for Electrosonic, says the largest challenges during the install occurred during the AV integration and aligning all the required projectors.
“It was a difficult place to wire because the entire center is wide open with the Senate chamber in the middle,” Abelowitz said in a previous statement. “We had to run everything around the outside of the facility. We used an all-fiber optic infrastructure, which allowed for longer cable runs.
“We also had a number of projectors to keep aligned and blended,” he said. “And since we were involved in the project from its early days, we had to devise systems that would be extremely flexible to meet the needs of the dynamic content still under development.”
Electrosonic also installed additional technologies in the EMK Institute, including:
• 750 Google Nexus tablets and interactive software by Control Group for visitors to choose a political party affiliation, vote, and assume the role of a senator.
• Three projection-design projectors and tvONE CORIO Edge Blender display that all project content on a curved screen, along with surround sound technology, located in the Orientation Theater.
• “The Quote Wall,” which is the building’s first video wall. The video wall is made of five, 55-inch NEC Display video monitors.
• Three video walls made of 60-inch Sharp Electronics video monitors, sound system and Sony cameras for content simulations, located in the Senate chamber.
• Eight projectors blend their content on “What is the Senate?,” located in the east and west hallways.
• Nine DHD555 Christie projectors that blend with Vista Systems’ Spyders to display content on how a bill becomes a law, located on the north wall.
• Two ELO Touch Solutions touchscreen kiosks, located in Senator Kennedy’s mock office.
• A pair of ceiling-mounted NEC projectors, cameras and AMX touch panels, located in three of the classrooms.
Visitors can stop by the EMK Institute Tuesday through Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
To learn more about the Institute, click here.
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