Project Profile: Texas Tech’s New Business School Video Wall

November 20, 2012 by Dave Haynes

This kinda spanks a chalkboard or even an overhead projector.

Texas Tech University’s Rawls College of Business has put up a massive 12 wide by 9 high wall of Christie’s MicroTiles in a primary classroom, using it as a multimedia instruction tool and something of a showpiece for the school.

The wall is installed at a 15-degree angle pointing down at the audience for better viewing, and uses a Christie Spyder X20 video processor to run multiple pictures and videos simultaneously in the amphitheatre setting.

The Lubbock school told project consultant DataCom Design Group of Houston it wanted a serious Wow Factor.

“It was important for the school to have an additional recruiting tool for both students and faculty; something that really made a statement,”  says DataCom’s Richard Brink. “Besides the physical practicalities of such an installation, keys to their decision were what content would be displayed and how they would utilize the screen itself. We asked them, ‘In your wildest dreams, how many images do you want to see for both special events and regular use?’ and similar questions. With the size, resolution and capabilities they wanted, the solution was Christie MicroTiles.”

Jon W. Litt of Whitlock, the project integrator, says one of the big challenges was sorting out how to mount this in a wall, while holding the weight and leaving enough space for the displays to cool.

The architect, structural engineer, mechanical engineer, and Litt worked together to design a bracket that could support the video wall – which had no other support but the ceiling bracket – and allow for sufficient airflow behind the wall without creating a wind tunnel effect and whistling sound. Litt says the team did “a lot of engineering on air velocity. It was a real advantage that Christie MicroTiles don’t burn very hot.”

Interestingly, the jumbo video wall is seen as a recruiting tool for professors, who might not be sufficiently dazzled by the prospect of campus life in Lubbock.

“There is no question that the MicroTiles video wall is a wonderful tool for recruiting high end faculty talent,” says Kathryn Suchy, associate director/computing, Texas Tech University. “If you have high-end faculty, the students will come and the Christie MicroTiles contribute to that end. We are very thrilled with the installation and you can see how classy the entire setup looks.”