Lafayette College Selects Extron Digital Switching and Touchpanel Control in Historic Boardroom

One of the most recognizable buildings on the campus of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, is the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights. Built in 1929, the stately building is home to the school's Government and Law Department. With an interior that is as artistically important as its exterior, Kirby Hall houses an beautiful law library upstairs with twenty-foot ceilings and oak-paneled bookcases.

The TouchLink touchpanel is simple to operate and folds down to blend.

E.J. Hudock, Instructional Technology Systems Engineer, Lafayette College

Across the hall from the library is the elegant Council Room, a boardroom used year-round for special events, classes, faculty gatherings, and student government meetings. When the school's Instructional Technology group needed to integrate 21st century AV technology into the historic room, they turned to Extron products.

Make the Technology Invisible

"The main challenge was to install a small AV system into the boardroom in a way that would leave the technology invisible when not in use," says system designer E.J. Hudock, Instructional Technology Systems Engineer for Lafayette. No modifications to the building were allowed and the school didn't want anything visible that would detract from the room's decor.

"To retain the dignity of the room, we decided to hide all the equipment in a new, custom-built credenza," says Hudock. A new six foot long walnut and mahogany credenza was fabricated by local craftsmen, Jonathan Fallos Cabinetmakers. Most of the other furniture is nearly 100 years old, so matching the wood and construction style was a real challenge.

A Small Yet Powerful System

The credenza was specifically designed to house the entire AV system, including a flat panel display, Blu-ray Disc player, PC, document camera, and touchpanel control system. When the system is not in use, the credenza perfectly complements the large walnut conference table in the center of the room.

When a user wants to access the technology inside, they simply press on a hidden panel in the credenza's top, revealing the Extron TLP 350CV 3.5" Cable Cubby® TouchLink™ Touchpanel. The TLP 350 CV combines a flipup full-color touchscreen in a Cable Cubby enclosure. "The TouchLink touchpanel is simple to operate and folds down to blend in," says Hudock. "And the enclosure gives users easy access to AV connectors, cables, and power."

The touchpanel's enclosure offers connectivity for VGA, HDMI, composite video, and audio sources, essentially, anything a presenter might bring into the room. When the system is powered up, a 65-inch high-definition plasma display rises out of the back of the credenza on a motorized lift. A slide-out shelf on each side of the credenza gives the presenter access to the document camera on the left and a wireless keyboard and mouse on the right.

The heart of the system is the Extron MPS 409 , a multi-format presentation switcher for digital and analog signals. The MPS 409 ensures the reliable display of virtually any video source and offers plenty of expandability for the future. It combines five independent switchers in a single compact enclosure and is loaded with features, such as EDID management and automatic input cable equalization. The MPS 409 is ideal for use in single-display applications, such as this one, that require a hybrid switcher for integration of digital and analog video sources and associated audio.

Control System Configuration

Members of Hudock's technical team attended Extron training where they learned to use the free Global Configurator and GUI Configurator software. The skills they learned will enable them to make any necessary future updates to the system. "With the TLP 350CV touchpanel, we were able to deploy a fully configurable, furnituremounted touchscreen control system," says Hudock. "The end result has exceeded our expectations."