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Project Summary

While most auditoria prioritize communication from the platform out into an audience, Klarman Hall which opened in October 2018, is an intimate forum designed to connect voices from all over the world to discuss critical issues. The 1,000-seat room is equipped to function as a large-scale conference center and a performance hall, but the real magic is in how it creates connections between people.

This bidirectional communication from anywhere in the room breaks the one-way paradigm of most auditoria.

The room was conceived to support the Harvard case method of teaching. The cases are real, complex problems; yet through the dynamic exchanging of perspectives, countering and defending points, and building on each other’s ideas, students become adept at analyzing issues, exercising judgment, and making difficult decisions―the very skills required of leadership.

Harvard’s case method approach required a different design from traditional lecture-style classrooms. It wasn’t enough to support one-direction of communication—from the platform outward. The room had to support the interaction. At scale.

Students need to be able to see each other and have the ability to speak to the room from where they are seated. The sound systems allow for presentation while a separate voice lift audio system supports the students’ interaction in the hall. The voice lift system includes ultra-sensitive microphones and more than 100 speakers to create a uniform sound no matter where students are seated.

The oversized multimedia display (61.8 feet wide) is curved to optimize viewing angles. It supports concurrent media presentations empowering a variety of ideas to be expressed at once. One of the essential components of the display design was that it had to be quiet—not only for the overall experience within the room, but so that it wasn’t amplified by the voice lift system.

As you might imagine, an incredible amount of bandwidth is required to support real-time interaction among 1,000 people. The wireless network includes 80 Ethernet access points, 32 antennas in the auditorium ceiling, and multigigabit Ethernet uplinks throughout the building.

Control systems were design to support ease of connection by University Lecturers along with high-capacity for performances.

The systems were designed by Idibri and installed by AVI-SPL.

In addition to the auditorium the 81,000 sf center designed by William Rawn Associates and constructed by Walsh Brothers includes recording studios for podcasts and webinars and a black box room for filming for HBX, the online extension school.