The six schools and colleges that make up the AHC include the disciplines of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and veterinary medicine. The Mayo Memorial Auditorium is used primarily as a lecture hall, but also serves many other functions.
Architects Smith Group, based out of Minneapolis, with principal architect Ted Davis and project architect Nick Woodard, were awarded the task of renovation, while technology consultants Elert & Associates of Stillwater, MN were engaged to analyse the auditorium and design a system capable of delivering seamless, first class speech quality.
In effect, the audio system was required to 'disappear' into the architectural renovation. Sound sources include wired and wireless microphones, DVD, VCR and computers.
Elert & Associates' team, led by principal consultant Will Craig and associate Ron Puncsak, set to work on the challenge and Ron Puncsak developed an EASE model of the room in conjunction with Nick Woodard at Smith Group.
Different digitally-steerable line arrays were modelled, and a pair of ICONYX IC8 loudspeakers, flanking a rear-projection screen, became the device of choice after verification with Renkus-Heinz's BeamWare. Jim Mobley, senior applications engineer at Renkus-Heinz, carried out verification on the EASE model to guarantee the system's eventual performance, with each IC8 tuned to deliver three sound 'beams' to evenly cover the seating.
(Jim Evans)
