Wichita Southeast High School Project
This is not your ordinary high school. This is a brand new $68 million, 330,000-square-foot educational vision brought to reality. The two-story east wing is devoted to academics. A long central hallway and glass-enclosed sky bridges connect its classrooms. Commons areas throughout the building give students plenty of room to meet and collaborate. AVANT ACOUSTICS worked closely with architects Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey to ensure the window-clad main commons area would not pose any acoustical issues.
An Enviable Auditorium
The school’s west wing houses the athletics and performing arts areas. The 900-seat auditorium even features an orchestra pit! To ensure this elegant auditorium would sound as good as it looked, AVANT ACOUSTICS designed a system with loudspeaker clusters throughout. Hidden at strategic locations, these speakers provide full-range audio coverage.
The AVANT-designed AV system includes an automatic microphone mixing system. This will allow the school to host lecture and speaking events without the need for a dedicated system operator. For more complex performances, AVANT included a 32-input, 64-channel digital mixing console in the AV design. Using this console, the operator can save and recall all mixer settings, including fader positions. The mixer can even be controlled remotely using an iPad app or computer!
It’s not all about sound, however. AVANT also included a high-definition projection system. In addition, this AV system design boasts a stage monitor system, recording capabilities, and a wireless hearing assistance system.
It may be worth mentioning that Wichita Southeast has produced notable performing arts alumni such as Kirstie Alley. Just think of who will come out of this school now that they have an AVANT ACOUSTICS-designed AV system to support performances?!
In addition to designing the AV systems, AVANT ACOUSTICS provided acoustical consultation and noise control recommendations for the auditorium. Want to know what we told them? Check out our blog post on theater acoustics design for some free tips!