2020 Warsaw
Cushman & Wakefield is a global commercial real estate advisory firm, providing comprehensive office development and management services on behalf of landlords, tenants and investors. The company is also known for its approach to applying innovative solutions which prepare its clients not only for current but also for future workplace trends.
The most important challenge of the joint project of equipping the new office of Cushman & Wakefield in The Warsaw Hub office building in Warsaw was to create audio-visual systems of office space prepared for a new model of hybrid work, ergonomic and intuitive in use, equipped with technologies limiting touch and helping to maintain appropriate social distance.
The challenge was ambitious, thus the more willing we were to design and implement audiovisual systems for our client’s Warsaw branch.
The first stage of planning new office of Cushman & Wakefield was very important. We started by analyzing the current global corporate standard and conducting workshops with employees and managers of our client. They allowed us to determine the detailed functional requirements of each office space in terms of using audiovisual, information or room reservation systems. Then our experts designed and coordinated designs of AV systems with designs of other installations.
An important aspect of designing AV infrastructure was the introduction of one communication standard within all meeting rooms and one functional standard for the entire C&W office. This concerned audio and videoconferencing, control, projection and sound systems. Additionally, in each room, we used table connections, which apart from containing power sockets, a cable to connect to the LAN network, also included video cables in the double HDMI and USB-C standard. The application of the double video standard allowed us to maintain 100% compatibility with any personal computer connected to the AV system for presentations regardless of its manufacturer. Each of the spaces was designed on the basis of professional equipment of renowned manufacturers.
We equipped the smallest three-person meeting rooms with a 43-inch LCD monitor. After connecting any video cable from the table connection to the computer, the monitor automatically switches on and the presentation begins. After disconnecting the cable from the computer, the monitor switches off. The room is also prepared for videoconferencing from the employee’s computer with any videoconferencing communicator installed. For this purpose, under each monitor we have installed an aesthetic, small camera with high image quality, which is characterised by a wide viewing angle of 150°, a function of automatic framing and counting of people in the room and is equipped with a matrix of directional microphones collecting the sound of active speakers.
Larger, five-person rooms were additionally equipped with a wireless audio and video transmission system and a multisensor-based presence sensor. This sensor detects not only movement but also the physical presence of people in the room. When an employee enters the room, a 43-inch LCD monitor is automatically switched on at first, followed by a graphic display with visual identification of the room and a code to connect the devices wirelessly. The employee is also able to make a presentation using a video cable located in the table connection in one of the two available HDMI or USB-C standards. The conference table is also equipped with a high quality teleconference device. The device has high quality directional microphones, a speech loudspeaker and an audio conference codec built in. The room is also prepared for videoconferencing from the employee’s computer with any video communicator installed. For this purpose, under the monitor, as in the case of smaller rooms, we have installed a camera with the function of automatic framing and counting of people in the room.
There is also a large conference room in the office. The system ensures full automation of presentations also in this room. The presence sensor detecting people in the room automatically switches on the 65-inch UHD monitor. The screen displays a logo or any graphics and code to connect the devices wirelessly. A complete videoconferencing set with a camera, microphones, loudspeaker and a licensed videoconferencing codec is installed under the monitor in the room. A 10″ touch panel on the wall is used to operate the videoconference, adjust the audio level and switch sources. In this room, it is possible to make a video call without the need to use your own computer with video software installed. The employee, having the room booked in advance, activates the video meeting with only one button on the touch panel “join the meeting”.
The reception area is connected with two conference rooms separated by mobile acoustic walls. The space can function in three different scenarios, as one large Town Hall, the reception desk and one large conference and training room or the reception desk and two smaller conference rooms. The space is equipped with sensors for room division. Thanks to this, the system automatically configures the way AV systems operate depending on the division chosen by the user. This space is controlled by means of a touch panel located at the reception desk. Moreover, each room can be independently controlled from the local touch panel installed in it. Due to the multifunctional character of this space, we have equipped it with 65″ UHD monitors installed on trolleys. Additionally, under each monitor there is a complete videoconferencing set containing a camera, speakers, touch panel and the installed license as well as a wireless transmission system.
If the reception space is used as a Town Hall, it is possible to record and stream video of events taking place in this space. The system records the events and provides an online report for employees outside the office. During the Town Hall event, the speaker can deliver a presentation from computer by displaying it using a high brightness 5000 ANSI lumen projector on a large, electrically expandable projection screen.
The canteen is also equipped with an audiovisual system. It consists of a large-format monitor with a network player of the Digital Signage system enabling the playback of information content according to the assumed schedule, high quality sound system with audio player and control panel.
In the space of the whole office we have applied a room reservation system. It enables the reservation of any room from the level of Microsoft Outlook calendar, calendar available on the employee’s phone or directly from the level of touch panels of the room reservation system installed at the entrance to each conference room. Integration of the room reservation system with the presence sensors located in the meeting rooms allows for automatic confirmation of the reservation and releasing it in case no one appears in the room.
In order to streamline the work of the IT system administrator, we have implemented an integrated AV/IT infrastructure management system – software that supports the administrator’s activities in the scope of installation of AV devices updates, resource management, monitoring of the condition of devices included in the AV system and their remote reconfiguration.
The Warsaw office of Cushman&Wakefield is distinguished by the use of modern technologies supporting work in a hybrid model of work with the use of large-scale video meetings in every space and supporting the maintenance of the office in the Six Feet Office concept. This concept is an original idea of C&W, which aims at maintaining an appropriate social distance between people working in the office. We have created a friendly and easy-to-use audiovisual system, which thanks to the use of automation systems, room reservation systems, presence sensors, wireless audio and video transmission allows to minimize touch. And all this in the highest aesthetics of the applied solutions.