GVAV delivered a futureproofed installation that brought the University of Oxford's humanities faculties under one advanced roof.
The University of Oxford’s humanities faculties have been united into a single, purpose-built campus bringing multiple faculties together alongside the Institute for Ethics in AI, the Oxford Internet Institute, and the Bodleian Humanities Library.
Building on a strong relationship between the University and GVAV, the integrator was brought into the project at the planning stage by technology consultant, Hewshott, in 2022 to deliver a unified AV strategy around a scalable, network-based offering. The move converges approximately 2,500 staff from 22 separate buildings into one, with the Schwarzman Centre open to the general public.
A complete, proof-of-concept teaching room was mocked up in full, outfitted with ceiling microphones, speakers, cameras, and displays all installed and tested together to address questions around airflow, heat, and acoustic performance before even one product was committed to at scale.
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities is a landmark development, uniting the University of Oxford’s internationally renowned humanities faculties into a single, purpose-built campus bringing together multiple faculties alongside the Institute for Ethics in AI, the Oxford Internet Institute and the Bodleian Humanities Library.
Matt Price, technical projects director for the Midlands, GVAV, explains: "In the proof-of-concept space, we could then mock up an entire classroom and try to bring the whole thing together. So, it meant when we came to site, we'd already done a lot of the hard work, the more challenging work, and had a working concept."
This installation required planning that started long before any equipment arrived on site, requiring GVAV to work with the main contractor, Laing O’Rourke, during the construction phase to carry out first-fix cabling. This reduced the pressure on the final installation programme significantly.
The finished installation covers more than 100 AV-enabled spaces across the building, including 39 fully equipped teaching and seminar rooms, 85 meeting spaces, as well as a Harvard-style lecture theatre.
GVAV also installed a boardroom, an atrium LED installation, a building-wide digital signage network. Each space was designed by Hewshott from the outside as a hybrid environment, capable of supporting in-person teaching, remote collaboration, and events without reconfiguration. Hybrid capability was an essential requirement from day one, shaped in the design phase by Hewshott and built into the AV architecture at every level.
The entire AV infrastructure at the Schwarzman Centre is built on a fully converged AVoIP architecture rather than traditional point-to-point cabling. Audio, video, and control signals travel across the University’s IP network, managed and distributed by a centralised platform.
At the heart of the system are eight Q-SYS Core 610 processors, each licensed with capacity scaling, scripting engine, and UCI deployment software to build a building-wide backbone to handle all audio processing, video routing, and room control.
Video is distributed via Q-SYS NV-21-HU AVoIP endpoints throughout the building, eliminating the need for traditional matrix switching infrastructure. Audio travels across a full Dante network, delivering high-channel count, low-latency audio distribution to every space.
Each device on the network can be monitored and managed remotely thanks to the network-first approach of the installation which future-proofs the building, meaning that adding capacity or integrating new technologies can be done without the physical constraints of a fixed cabling plant.
Stuart Harris, technical sales manager, GVAV, commented: "From a very early stage it was decided to go down an IP-first route. From that point onwards, Q-SYS was selected as the platform best suited to move all of the video and audio across the building."
The Centre’s atrium acts as the social and cultural heart of the building, serving as the focal point for everyday life within the centre, as well as events and performances. The digital centrepiece is a 165 degrees Sharp FE series direct-view LED wall, comprised of 36 modules assembled into a bezel-free canvas.
The display features a 0.95mm pixel pitch and a 5000:1 contrast ratio, where each module is independently front-serviceable, so that in the event of a module failure, a single section can be attended to quickly and without any visible disruption to the rest of the display. Yamaha VX-L16P speakers are mounted either side of the LED wall, providing a discreet audio system for the space.
An LED wall serves as the main display within the building’s Harvard-style lecture theatre: A 135-in Sharp 1.5mm pixel pitch LED wall for presentations. QSC loudspeakers have been installed at either side of the display.
Q-SYS PTZ cameras are used for lecture capture, ensuring that remote participants have full visibility of sessions. A Sennheiser TeamConnect mic captures speech from anywhere in the room without the need for handheld microphones to support a natural, free-flowing teaching environment. An Epiphan Pearl device handles lecture capture, sending recordings directly to the University’s Panopto cloud platform.
Throughout the building’s 39 teaching and seminar rooms, the AV has been designed with the user experience in mind. Freedom of movement was a consideration for those presenting, with no fixed lecterns and no racks of visible equipment. Each room features a bespoke, wall-mounted TOP-TEC Slimline Active Learning Console (SALC), a compact credenza housing the AV equipment for the space.
Academics can walk into any teaching room in the building to a familiar user experience, using Sharp M-series large format displays to provide 4K visuals. QSC ceiling speakers, surface-mount loudspeakers, and amplifiers to deliver a consistent experience and output from room to room.
Audio is captured by Sennheiser TCC2 mic arrays, picking up speech clearly from anywhere in the room without the need for handheld or lectern-mounted mics, while Q-SYS PTZ cameras track the presenter and frame the room for remote participants. Each space is controlled via a Logitech Tap touch controller integrated within the SALC, paired with a Lenovo ThinkSmart Core compute unit running Microsoft Teams Rooms.
A Logitech Scribe is mounted above the teaching rooms’ whiteboards, capturing written content for the benefit of remote participants.
Lecture capture is managed via an Epiphan Pearl device, combining camera, video, and room audio before sending the feed automatically to the University’s Panopto cloud platform.
Harris adds: "The main benefit of everything being a Teams Room is that the user interface is the same whichever room you go into. You could go into a lecture theatre, or a seminar room or a meeting space, and every single one of them would be identical."
The building’s 85 meetings rooms feature the same hybrid-first philosophy, where Logitech Rally Bars provide an all-in-one videoconferencing system, combining a high-quality camera with integrated audio in a compact unit that mounts cleanly above the display. Sharp MultiSync M-Series displays, sized appropriately to each room, provide the visual component. Logitech Tap and Lenovo ThinkSmart Core are paired in this space to ensure users moving between room types encounter an identical Teams Rooms interface each time.
This standard continues across the building’s 85 meeting rooms, with the same hybrid-first philosophy applied. Logitech Rally Bars provide an all-in-one video conferencing solution, combining a high-quality camera with integrated audio in a compact unit that mounts cleanly above the display. Sharp MultiSync M-Series displays, sized appropriately to each room, provide the visuals. The same Logitech Tap and Lenovo ThinkSmart Core pairing ensures users moving between room types encounter an identical Teams Rooms interface every time.
The ground-floor boardroom has been integrated for high level executive meetings, using a 98-in M-Series display which serves as the main display at the front of the room, supported by a Q-SYS PTZ camera for intelligent framing during hybrid meetings.
Two Q-Lan network speakers deliver audio, while Sennheiser TCC2 microphones provide audio capture without the need for additional table microphones.
At the rear of the room, a second Sharp display ensures that all participants, regardless of where they are seated, have a clear sightline to shared content. A Logitech Rally Bar mounted above brings additional conferencing capabilities for flexibility in room usage. This room operates as a fully integrated Microsoft Teams Room, controlled via Logitech Tap.
Digital signage displays also provide wayfinding information in the building’s shared spaces, managed centrally via BrightSign players running NowSignage CMS.
Sustainability was built into the AV infrastructure rather than considered separately, using GUDE Expert Power Control PDUs installed across the building, enabling remote power management and monitoring of connected equipment.
Occupancy sensors are present in each teaching room which detect whether a space is in use. If no audio or connected device is present, the room’s AV system powers down automatically, reducing energy consumption without any action required from the user.
Every element of the building’s specification, including its AV infrastructure, was considered with energy efficiency commitment in mind. All bookable spaces are managed with ease via Logitech Tap Scheduler room booking panels. Scheduling integration means that rooms are only active when bookings exist, while GUDE PDUs enable remote power management and monitoring of equipment.
For accessibility, GVAV deployed 40 Ampetronic/Listen Technologies Auri transmitters, bringing Auracast capability to the building’s users. Each Auri transmitter integrates directly with the building’s Dante audio network, drawing the room’s audio feed without any additional cabling or infrastructure, representing one of the largest deployments of Auracast in a UK education environment.
For users without Auracast-compatible devices, 16 dedicated Auri RX1 receivers are available alongside neckloops. As Auracast support becomes standard in hearing aids, cochlear implants, earbuds and smartphones, the system is futureproofed without additional investment.
Phill Camp, head of technology, humanities division, University of Oxford, commented: "I have had people come to me and say, can we get into the Schwarzman? The AV just works. You know you have done well when people are queuing to get into your building because the technology has been labelled as just working."