Newsroom

Hong Kong-headquartered lighting-control-and-pro-AV specialist BAP has recently kitted out the new campus of the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) with the latest audiovisual systems.

The Client

THEi offers degree courses in subjects such as fashion design, product design, landscape architecture, retail management, food science and safety, sports and recreation management, and culinary arts and management.  "[Degree programmes] are vocationally and professionally orientated and developed with significant industry input, with the 'learn and do'  approach enabling students to apply specialised knowledge and skills to real-world issues,"  says THEi.

The Brief

In order to meet THEi's teaching needs, and to deliver the best learning experience for students, a comprehensive range of AV systems needed to be installed on the premises. BAP was commissioned to carry out that task. By the time the project was completed, 39 systems had been installed in 38 rooms, including lecture theatres, classrooms, tutorial rooms, laboratories, and meeting rooms.
"Teachers and professors are always stretched thin, and they need every advantage they can get to reach their students and ensure their lessons make an impact," says Finson Lam, managing director from BAP. "AV solutions can go a long way to making that happen, transforming the way educators approach their goals. And they can help with everything from lesson planning to evaluating students' work."

The Integration & Collaboration

One of the systems BAP installed in THEi's new campus is Extron ShareLink, a wireless collaboration gateway. This technology allows student laptops and handheld devices to be connected to a classroom network. Student work can then be displayed on large in-classroom screens.  "ShareLink™ technology supports simultaneous display of slides, documents, graphs, and photos from up to four devices without needing a cable,"  says Lam Kai Yam, technical manager from BAP.  "It is compatible with Windows® and OS X® computers as well as Apple® and Android™ smartphones and tablets."

Within the higher education sector, distance learning is a growth area. The Reach BEE 9, another of the installed system, allows for the capture and streaming of lectures, enabling classes to be viewed from any location.  "It integrates auto-tracking, autoswitching and recording functions, can auto track teacher's movements, detect the signal source changes and auto-switch the images between teacher's close-up, platform full-view, students' full-view as well as the presentation,"  explains Lam Kai Yam.

"Bee9 can record in both movie mode and resource mode files, and provide a variety of playback experience. Bee9 can also work with video conference systems, and is specialised for classroom recording solutions in a worldwide market."
The trapezoidal lecture theatre with French windows presented a challenge to AV system design because reverberation and echo effects have a negative impact on acoustic performance. Certified BAP engineers carefully calibrated the angles of installed speakers in order to eliminate echo effect.
BAP completed the project in January this year, and was able to install its systems within a two-month time frame – half the usual amount of time required to complete a project of this scale. "BAP is a proud one-stop full-service solution house for AV systems for THEi, and ensures the utmost usability and purpose for THEi's needs" says BAP.

The Specialist

BAP was founded in 2003. The firm has offices in Hong Kong, Macau and China.  "We maintain a holistic approach to consultation, design and build and project management," says Finson Lam. "The key to creating a successful integrated system environment is in understanding the relationship between people, space and technology, and bringing these elements together into an effective and cohesive manner."