At a glance
- Client: Russell Reynolds Associates, a global executive search and leadership advisory firm
- Location: 101 California Street, San Francisco — training room 4203, conference rooms 4201 and 4204, interview rooms 4206 and 4207, four huddle rooms, 19 recruiter offices and a café
- Scope: A new-office AV build in two phases, from a ClearOne CONVERGE Pro 840T training room with a Sharp LC-80LE661U to Crestron AM-100 wireless presentation in nine rooms and a Logitech C930e at every recruiter desk
- Platform: The firm’s own Lifesize video conferencing, ClearOne audio conferencing and Crestron AirMedia
The situation
Russell Reynolds Associates moved its San Francisco office to 101 California Street. The fit-out ran as a construction project, with Gensler as architect and BCCI Construction as general contractor. We held the AV subcontract under BCCI.
A move like this is the one time every room gets specified at once. The firm needed a training room that could run a conference call with a full room, conference rooms for client meetings, interview rooms for candidates, huddle rooms for quick sessions, a café screen, and video at every recruiter’s desk.
The firm already had its video conferencing standard. Lifesize cameras and systems were owner-furnished, so our job was to build the rooms around them: displays, audio, wireless sharing, cabling and mounts. That is typical corporate and professional-services AV work, where the platform is decided and the room design is not.
This San Francisco office came first. Later we added wireless presentation to two of the firm’s Palo Alto rooms without a rebuild. Read the Palo Alto wireless presentation upgrade.
What made a whole-office build hard?
The rooms had almost nothing in common. A training room that seats a group on a conference call needs ceiling microphones, a DSP and distributed speakers. A recruiter office needs a webcam. An interview room needs to make a good first impression on a senior candidate in a small space. One template would have overbuilt some rooms and underbuilt others.
Much of the video equipment was not ours. Owner-furnished Lifesize 200 cameras went into Conference Room 4201 and Interview Room 4207. Owner-furnished conferencing systems went into the training room and Interview Room 4206. The firm supplied the PCs for the interview rooms and all 19 recruiter offices. We had to mount, connect and integrate equipment we did not specify.
The work also ran on a contractor’s schedule. It was split into two phases, each with its own proposal, and Phase 1 went through version 5.2 before it was final. The camera mounts changed by change order partway through.
How did we design each room type?
Training room 4203
The training room carries the heaviest build in the office. A Sharp LC-80LE661U 80-inch display hangs on a Chief XTM1U tilt mount over a Chief PAC526FW in-wall box. Audio conferencing runs on a ClearOne CONVERGE Pro 840T with a CONVERGE Pro VH20 VoIP interface and a ClearOne Interact Dialer at the table.
Three ClearOne beamforming microphone arrays hang from 24-inch suspension kits and run on their own PoE kits. Ceiling microphones kept the training tables free of audio hardware. Ten JBL Control 26CT ceiling speakers on a JBL CSA 1120Z amplifier cover the room. Our DSP programming tied the microphones, the VoIP line and the room’s owner-furnished video system into one call.
A Crestron AM-100 handles wireless sharing, and two Binary B-500-EXT-230-RS HDBaseT extenders carry video between the table and the display. The room is a standard example of training room AV: group audio first, one large display and wireless sharing.
Conference rooms 4201 and 4204
Both rooms use a Sharp LC-60LE661U 60-inch display on a Chief LTM1U mount, a pair of Innovox Audio FP-V2 slim speakers, a Crestron AM-100 and one HDBaseT extender. Conference Room 4201 adds the firm’s Lifesize 200 camera for video calls. Conference Room 4204 is a presentation room without a camera. Both follow a plain conference room AV pattern: one screen, one wireless source, one set of speakers.
Interview and huddle rooms
Interview Rooms 4206 and 4207 and all four huddle rooms use a Samsung UN40J5500AFXZA 40-inch display on a Chief MSM1U fixed mount with a Crestron AM-100. Interview Room 4207 adds an owner-furnished Lifesize 200 camera and PC. Interview Room 4206 adds an owner-furnished video conferencing system, a PC and a Vaddio 535-2000-217 camera mount. The huddle rooms stop at the display and wireless collaboration, which is all a huddle space of that size needs.
Recruiter offices and café
Each of the 19 recruiter offices got a Logitech C930e webcam on the firm’s PC and its own Cat6 drop. The café got a Sharp LC-60LE661U, an Innovox Audio FS-H1 display-mounted speaker, an Apple TV and a connection to an owner-furnished TV tuner, fed through an HDBaseT extender.
What changed during design
Change Order 1 replaced the three Vaddio 535-2000-222 thin-profile wall mounts in the pick list with three Vaddio 999-2225-015 in-wall enclosures, built for Lifesize HD and Polycom EagleEye cameras. The cameras in the training room, Conference Room 4201 and Interview Room 4207 sit in the wall instead of on it.
There is no room control processor in this office. Each room runs on an AM-100, HDBaseT extension and the display’s own inputs. That kept the rooms simple: a laptop shares through the AM-100, and video calls run on the firm’s own Lifesize equipment.
Equipment by room type
| Room type | Count | Display | Codec/platform | Camera | Audio | Control | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Training room (4203) | 1 | Sharp LC-80LE661U 80-inch | Owner-furnished video system; ClearOne CONVERGE Pro 840T with VH20 | Owner-furnished, in Vaddio in-wall enclosure | Three ClearOne beamforming arrays, ten JBL Control 26CT, JBL CSA 1120Z | ClearOne Interact Dialer | Crestron AM-100; two HDBaseT extenders |
| Conference room with video (4201) | 1 | Sharp LC-60LE661U 60-inch | Owner-furnished Lifesize | Lifesize 200 (owner-furnished), in Vaddio in-wall enclosure | Innovox Audio FP-V2 pair | — | Crestron AM-100 |
| Presentation conference room (4204) | 1 | Sharp LC-60LE661U 60-inch | — | — | Innovox Audio FP-V2 pair | — | Crestron AM-100 |
| Interview room (4207) | 1 | Samsung UN40J5500AFXZA 40-inch | Owner-furnished Lifesize and PC | Lifesize 200 (owner-furnished), in Vaddio in-wall enclosure | — | — | Crestron AM-100 |
| Interview room (4206) | 1 | Samsung UN40J5500AFXZA 40-inch | Owner-furnished video system and PC | Owner-furnished, on Vaddio 535-2000-217 | — | — | Crestron AM-100 |
| Huddle rooms | 4 | Samsung UN40J5500AFXZA 40-inch | — | — | — | — | Crestron AM-100 |
| Recruiter offices | 19 | Owner-furnished PC | Desktop video | Logitech C930e | — | — | Cat6 drop per office |
| Café | 1 | Sharp LC-60LE661U 60-inch | Apple TV, owner-furnished TV tuner | — | Innovox Audio FS-H1 | — | HDBaseT extender |
Parts list
| Function | Model | Qty installed |
|---|---|---|
| Training room display | Sharp LC-80LE661U | 1 |
| Conference room and café displays | Sharp LC-60LE661U | 3 |
| Interview and huddle room displays | Samsung UN40J5500AFXZA | 6 |
| Wireless presentation gateway | Crestron AM-100 | 9 |
| Audio conferencing DSP (training room) | ClearOne CONVERGE Pro 840T | 1 |
| VoIP interface (training room) | ClearOne CONVERGE Pro VH20 (910-151-825) | 1 |
| Ceiling beamforming microphone array | ClearOne Beamforming Microphone Array (910-001-003) | 3 |
| Microphone ceiling suspension kit, 24-inch | ClearOne 910-001-005-24 | 3 |
| Microphone PoE power supply and cable kit | ClearOne 910-001-004 | 3 |
| Tabletop dialer | ClearOne Interact Dialer (910-151-891) | 1 |
| Training room ceiling speakers | JBL Control 26CT | 10 |
| Training room amplifier | JBL CSA 1120Z | 1 |
| Conference room speakers (pairs) | Innovox Audio FP-V2 | 2 |
| Café display-mounted speaker | Innovox Audio FS-H1 | 1 |
| HDBaseT extender | Binary B-500-EXT-230-RS | 5 |
| Training room display mount | Chief XTM1U | 1 |
| Conference room and café display mounts | Chief LTM1U | 3 |
| Interview and huddle room display mounts | Chief MSM1U | 6 |
| In-wall storage box (training room) | Chief PAC526FW | 1 |
| In-wall camera enclosures (Change Order 1) | Vaddio 999-2225-015 | 3 |
| Camera wall mount (Interview Room 4206) | Vaddio 535-2000-217 | 1 |
| Recruiter desk webcams | Logitech C930e | 19 |
| Café streaming player | Apple TV | 1 |
| Plenum Cat6, white (Phase 1) | Liberty 24-4P-L6-EN-WHT | 3,150 ft |
| Owner-furnished | Lifesize 200 cameras, video conferencing systems, PCs, TV tuner | — |
Network and IT
Cabling was part of the AV scope, not an afterthought. The Phase 1 pick list alone carries 3,150 feet of white plenum Cat6, 200 feet of plenum 18/2 speaker cable and 100 feet of plenum audio cable. Every recruiter office got its own Cat6 drop, and the meeting rooms, café and training room got their own Cat6 runs.
The training room’s ClearOne units sit in the IDF, away from the room. The beamforming microphone arrays each run on a ClearOne PoE kit, and the five Binary HDBaseT extenders carry video, IR and RS-232 over single Cat6 runs.
Network segmentation came up after move-in. The café Apple TV was hardwired on one subnet while the firm’s Wi-Fi clients sat on another, so AirPlay did not cross between them. We confirmed the Apple TV’s wired address and sent its IP and MAC addresses to the firm’s IT team so they could allow that traffic. That kind of handoff is routine in our AV integration services, and it is the question your security team will ask first.
The rollout
The build ran in two phases under BCCI’s contract. Phase 1 covered the training room, Conference Rooms 4201 and 4204, the first eight recruiter offices, the café and Interview Room 4207. Phase 2 added the remaining eleven recruiter offices, the four huddle rooms and Interview Room 4206.
Splitting the scope let the rooms the office needed on day one go in first. The candidate-facing and overflow spaces followed on their own proposal.
The design and engineering package went through BCCI as submittals: AV cut sheets, AV drawings and AV shop drawings, each returned with a response. The project file holds three sign-off sheets from the install and a set of closeout documents.
Support from here
The rooms stayed on our service list after move-in. Our service records for this office include:
- USB extensions added behind the three large conference room displays.
- AirPlay restored to the café Apple TV by getting the firm’s IT team to allow traffic between the wired and Wi-Fi subnets.
- Café TV audio lost and restored with a factory reset, at no charge.
- Dial tone lost in the main conference room and restored by power cycling the ClearOne units in the IDF, on an early-morning call.
- Lifesize audio freezing in the Pacific Heights room, cleared with a unit reset and a test of the other inputs.
None of those were design faults. They were the normal drift of an office full of connected equipment: a TV setting, a network rule, a codec that needed a restart. Each one would have stopped a meeting if nobody had been on call. Our AV maintenance and support plans are built for exactly that.
Frequently Asked Questions — Office AV Installation for a Professional-Services Relocation
Answers to the questions office managers, facilities teams and IT leads ask most often about building AV into a new office.
Does every room in a new office need the same AV?
No: in Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office, Creation Networks built a ClearOne CONVERGE Pro 840T training room with three ceiling beamforming arrays and an 80-inch Sharp display, while the four huddle rooms got a 40-inch Samsung display and a Crestron AM-100, and each of the 19 recruiter offices got a Logitech C930e webcam.
Matching each room to its job kept the small rooms simple and put the heavier equipment where group calls happen.
What AV does an interview room at a search firm need?
At Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office, Creation Networks fitted each interview room with a Samsung UN40J5500AFXZA 40-inch display on a Chief MSM1U mount and a Crestron AM-100 for wireless sharing, then added the firm’s own Lifesize 200 camera and PC in Interview Room 4207 and its own video system in 4206.
The interview rooms carry no separate audio system. The display, the camera and the AM-100 do the work.
Does an office need a room control system in every meeting room?
Not always: Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office runs without a room control processor, with each meeting room built around a Crestron AM-100 wireless presentation gateway, Binary B-500-EXT-230-RS HDBaseT extension where needed, and the display’s own inputs, with video calls running on the firm’s own Lifesize equipment.
The training room adds a ClearOne Interact Dialer for its audio conferencing system.
What audio does a training room need for conference calls?
In Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco training room, Creation Networks installed a ClearOne CONVERGE Pro 840T with a VH20 VoIP interface, three ClearOne beamforming microphone arrays on 24-inch suspension kits, ten JBL Control 26CT ceiling speakers on a JBL CSA 1120Z amplifier, and a ClearOne Interact Dialer at the table.
Ceiling arrays keep microphones off the training tables, so tables can move without re-cabling microphones.
Can an AV integrator install video equipment the client already owns?
Yes: in Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office, Creation Networks installed owner-furnished Lifesize 200 cameras in Conference Room 4201 and Interview Room 4207, owner-furnished video systems in the training room and Interview Room 4206, and Vaddio 999-2225-015 in-wall enclosures for three of the cameras.
We supplied the displays, audio, wireless sharing and mounts around the firm’s own conferencing standard.
Why won’t AirPlay reach an Apple TV on an office network?
At Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office, the café Apple TV was hardwired on one subnet while Wi-Fi users sat on another, so Creation Networks confirmed the Apple TV’s wired address and gave the firm’s IT team its IP and MAC addresses so they could allow AirPlay traffic between the two networks.
Segmented networks are normal in offices. Plan the AV exceptions with IT before move-in if you can.
How much cabling does an office AV build need?
For Phase 1 of Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office alone, the Creation Networks pick list carried 3,150 feet of white plenum Cat6, 200 feet of plenum 18/2 speaker cable and 100 feet of plenum audio cable, covering a Cat6 drop for each recruiter office plus the meeting rooms, café and training room.
Phase 2 added drops for eleven more recruiter offices, four huddle rooms and an interview room.
Can an office AV build be split into phases?
Yes: Creation Networks built Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office in two phases, with the training room, two conference rooms, eight recruiter offices, the café and one interview room first, and eleven more recruiter offices, four huddle rooms and a second interview room on a separate Phase 2 proposal.
Each phase had its own proposal under the general contractor, so the second phase could move on its own schedule.
Why would camera mounts change during an office build?
On Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office, Change Order 1 replaced three Vaddio 535-2000-222 thin-profile wall mounts with three Vaddio 999-2225-015 in-wall enclosures for Lifesize HD cameras, so the cameras in the training room, Conference Room 4201 and Interview Room 4207 sit in the wall rather than on it.
Changes like this are easiest to make during construction, before walls close.
What goes wrong with office AV after move-in?
Creation Networks’ service records for Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office include a lost dial tone fixed by power cycling the ClearOne units in the IDF, Lifesize audio freezing cleared with a reset, a café TV that needed a factory reset to restore audio, and USB extensions added behind three conference room displays.
Small faults like these stop meetings. A help desk that knows the rooms fixes them fast.
Can AV service calls happen outside business hours?
Yes: when the main conference room at Russell Reynolds’ San Francisco office lost dial tone, a Creation Networks technician arrived at 6:00 a.m., inspected the connections and power cycled the ClearOne units in the IDF, restoring the dial tone and closing the call before 7:00 a.m.
Early calls keep repairs out of the meeting schedule.
Technology partners on this project
Creation Networks, Inc. — nationwide commercial AV integrator, CTS-D certified, based in Concord, CA and Incline Village, NV. Design, engineering, programming, installation, and support from a single point of contact. Call 888-230-3661 or email sales@creationnetworks.net.
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