As part of our annual all-company SOAR Week, when team members fly in from around the country and convene at our Norwalk, CT headquarters for a week of in-person sessions and group activities, we took a trip down to lower Manhattan for a tour of the new NYU Paulson Center. This 735,000 SF multi-use facility encompasses an entire city block and is comprised of classrooms, theatres, rehearsal spaces, athletic facilities, dining areas, student and faculty housing, and outdoor communal spaces. After a brief stint on a chartered bus, including some adept maneuvering through New York City traffic, we arrived at 181 Mercer Street to take in the brand-new building in all its shining glory.

We made our way through the lobby and residential common areas to our first stop, the Orchestra Ensemble Rehearsal Room, and had the pleasure of listening to a student practicing a Bach tune on the Steinway as we took a look around. The space overlooks the street and features a stunning backdrop of classic New York City architecture. This opportunity for an in-person tour provided our entire team with a concrete understanding of the sound isolation considerations taken in the design process, such as the double-skin, faceted glass envelope which blocks out exterior noise as well as the motorized acoustic banners that can be deployed at the push of a button.

In the adjacent AV control room, we were given a closer look at the flexible, future-proof technology that makes this facility a beacon of superior audio/video functionality. Networked AV systems on an isolated multi-gigabit LAN permit the transfer of high-resolution signals throughout the building with low latency. All signals travel between venues on fiber optic cables, allowing each venue to operate in isolation or together with other spaces simultaneously.

Next up on our tour were the various practice spaces, followed by the 350-seat Iris Cantor Proscenium Theatre, NYU’s first professional-level proscenium theatre; the African Grove Theatre, an end stage theatre named in honor of the first Black theatre in America; and the black box theatre. The acoustics and AV systems in each of these venues are designed to be flexible in order to provide students with the opportunity to practice and perform in an array of professional environments.

Each member of our team has been well-informed about this highly publicized project but visiting it in-person offered an even more thorough understanding of the monumental undertaking it was to acoustically isolate each space from one another and the surrounding city, and to provide the technology and connectivity needed within a building of this caliber. Not only did we get to see this project in its final built form, but our team was also able to experience it together. We ended the day at a cozy restaurant nearby before heading back home, content to know this project, and each other, a little bit better.

You can learn more about the NYU Paulson Center project here!