2022 Wrocław
AmRest is an international corporation popular for management of some of the most famous brands such as KFC, Starbucks, Pizza Hut and Burger King. AmRest owns 2430 restaurants in 25 countries all over the world, employing over 48 000 people. One of the AmRest offices is located in Wroclaw (Centrum Południe). A+V has been selected to support AmRest staff with an efficient and easy to use audio-visual system.
This global client’s priority was to implement solutions adhering to one AV standard in the whole office. An important aspect of this project was unification of equipment, which means that every meeting room looks the same. You can find out more about office AV standardisation from our article here.
In addition, this office was to accommodate requirements of hybrid work, which means that there must have been Microsoft Teams video-conferencing facilities in every meeting space for more than 4 people.
Conference room automation, connection with BMS (Building Management System) and using professional devices were also important for AmRest in this project.
There are various spaces planned within AmRest office in Wroclaw:
A room reservation system has also been designed to make it easier for staff to plan, organise and attend meetings in the office.
There are table mediaports installed in all meeting rooms – these include HDMI cables and power sockets hidden under an elegant cover flap. Thanks to HDMI cables, any laptop can be connected to the AV system. This enables presentation of content from a computer onto the display screen, or projection onto an electrical projection screen. It was important that the connection system is compatible with all models of laptops. Our experience shows that HDMI solution is very common in our clients’ offices. Power socket enables charging a laptop on a table, which is much more comfortable for the user than reaching out to floorboxes or wall sockets. When the table mediaport is not needed, it can be hidden under a flap to maintain clean and tidy look of the table. In addition, cabling between the mediaport and a floorbox is covered by a textile coat.
Small meeting rooms are designed for gatherings of maximum 4 people.
Small rooms have been designed in an OFFLINE standard, including basic AV equipment for multimedia presentation of content from a computer onto a display screen. Image from a computer is transmitted via HDMI cable in a table mediaport, onto an LG LCD 4K 55” display screen. Display screen speakers are used for sound in the room.
Medium meeting rooms have been designed to fit up to 6, 8 or 10 people.
Room automation system designed by A+V team has been implemented in these rooms. Once a user walks into the room, they only need to tap anywhere on a touch panel, to activate the AV system: display screen switches on with a current time, video-conferencing system is on and, thanks to connection with BMS, the light in the room turns on as well.
Once a meeting is finished, after 5 minutes of lack of any activity in the room, all devices go into Stand-By mode, which results in the automatic AV system switch-off. This automation is possible thanks to a dedicated, personalised configuration of Crestron Flex, created by A+V programmers.
Meeting rooms are prepared to accommodate video conferencing. They have been designed in an ONLINE standard, which means that a user’s laptop is not necessary to commence a video meeting – the meeting stars by pushing “one-click-conference” button on a dedicated touchscreen (a video-conferencing codec), permanently located in the room. These meeting rooms have been equipped with Crestron Flex video-conferencing sets, which natively work on Microsoft Teams communication platform. This set includes:
There are also professional LG display screens installed in the meeting rooms – these displays are made for long hours of operation and in size adequate to the particular space:
There are also divisible meeting rooms in the AmRest office in Wrocław. Each of them consists of two smaller meeting rooms, which can be used as one combined space, or two independent meeting rooms. There is a Sony 85’’ display screen installed on a ceiling mount in one of the smaller rooms, and a Sony projector with an electric 123’’ screen in the other room. There are video-conferencing sets installed in each room – Crestron Flex (10” touch panel and a soundbar) natively working on Microsoft Teams application.
In addition, we made sure there is an appropriate sound system designed in the audio-visual system of the divisible rooms. There are four Crestron speakers installed, which work well in both separate rooms and combined space scenario. There is also a Sennheiser handheld microphone available in the space for speech amplification.
Both divided rooms have been equipped with a central control & management system. A video-conferencing touch panels (Crestron Flex) allow for AV system management and are the interface for the end user. In an intuitive way, users can manage video-conferencing connections, lighting in the room (thanks to the integration with BMS) and AV system functionalities such as:
Audio-visual system in this space is automated (just like in the previously described rooms) with a dedicated application and Crestron Flex devices. The system is activated from a touch panel, and is automatically going into Stand-By mode after 5 minutes of inactivity.
Switching operation modes from two separate rooms into one combined space mode is very intuitive thanks to the touch panel in the Crestron Flex set. Room utilisation management, without a manual configuration or technical support each time, is a true benefit to the client and their staff.
Staff canteen has been designed as a multi-functional space. It is not only a place for dining together and taking breaks – it is also a Townhall space for large company meetings. These events are accessible for remote participants and can be streamed online – features truly important in a hybrid work era. Townhall space can be managed from a keypad installed on the wall – offering volume and lighting management, as well as projection switch on and off. Technical support is not required to manage this space, which increases the user experience. Image is shown on a 123’’ screen through a Sony projector with a laser light source. Any device connected via HDMI cable in the floorbox can be a content source in this system. Sound system is based on a mobile JBL speaker set and a wireless microphone, offering good quality of speech sound in the space.
A Boardroom is a space for leadership and higher management meetings. It has been equipped with a video-conferencing set in the ONLINE standard (consistent with other meeting rooms) with an automated system switch on/off function. Image is shown on an 85” display screen and, due to the shape of the room (long and narrow), we have installed two additional 55’’ screens on ceiling mount half way through the room. Thanks to this, each meeting participant can clearly see the content presented by the speaker.
Sennheiser ceiling array microphone ensures good quality of speech streaming during a video-conference. This is a set of 8 intelligent microphones with an active speaker tracking function – each participant is heard very well, regardless of their location at the table. Polycom Eagle Eye Director 2 camera has been installed in this room and it „follows” the person speaking at the time – executing speaker tracking functionality. This also serves as a mini video mixer, enabling image transmission from two cameras, independently adjusting the picture to show the person speaking at the time. This solution is fantastic for bigger spaces when the user needs a good quality of sound and vision of a participant who sits further away from the camera.
All meeting rooms in the AmRest office are connected with a room reservation system. There is a 7” Crestron touch panel installed next to each door – this shows useful information such as:
Crestron Room Scheduling technology allows for integration with the most popular calendars: Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office 365, Google Calendar, or G Suite, etc. The system enables reservation of the meeting room from the user’s laptop or directly from the touch panel on the wall.
A Crestron Fusion service oversees the operation of the room reservation system and manages AV devices – combining them into an efficient audio-visual system. A management software especially prepared by A+V team enables management of the room reservations, informs about system faults and allows for remote repairs. It also collects data and generates reports for the IT team and makes it possible to prevent further faults. Crestron Fusion system collects data about meeting room usage (i.e. frequency of room reservations, timings and duration of the meetings) and information about the use of devices (i.e. frequency of AV system usage during the meetings). In addition, the room reservation system integrated with Crestron Fusion service, enables presenting information about the meeting rooms availability and upcoming meetings on the display screen in the office reception area.
Our client decided to use a XiO Cloud service, which allows us to monitor and service all Crestron devices 24h/7. AmRest benefits from shorter service reaction time and remote repairs, without the need for call-outs and technicians coming onsite – these result in a better effectiveness of the audio-visual system, less system failures or device faults, that could prevent the staff from utilising their office meeting rooms.
Remote meetings and hybrid work are our bread & butter, and a modern office has to offer video-conferencing facilities with a high quality sound and vision. AmRest office in Wroclaw is equipped with the most modern audio-visual solutions, enabling staff to hold hybrid meetings with clients, and to collaborate with contractors and partners from all over the world. Introducing one AV standard in the whole office guarantees better adoption, simple operation and low fault level of the system, which has positive impact on the work comfort and satisfaction of the employees. Our project and its implementation in the AmRest office is a great example of a modern „workplace” that meets expectations of both end users and the management team.