By Doug Carroll
Communications Staff
The College of Education classroom building, already a huge hit with students, staff and visitors, became even more spectacular this week with the installation of the Times Square-style video screen on the second level of its eastern exterior.
Components for the screen arrived Wednesday from China. The project is the work of Darren Bak of Atlanta-based Innovation Sports Marketing, and Bak was on hand to oversee the installation by local company Christy Signs and its crew of eight.
“It went through testing before it was shipped,” Bak said on Friday morning. “The installation is going really well. The guys from Architekton (the building’s designer) and Pono (contractor) put everything in place.”
The board is about 17 feet tall and 38 feet long, including more than eight feet wrapping around the building’s south side. It consists of 60 panels, each weighing as much as 90 pounds and each containing up to 24 LED modules inside.
Bak said more testing of the screen will be done over the weekend. It could be ready to show programming — such as movies — within a week. Eventually, it will be synchronized with video screens inside the new Arena, now under construction nearby.
The video-display package for the Arena also is the work of Bak’s company. It is expected to be delivered in May and will provide the 5,000-seat venue with the latest in all-digital, high-definition technology for sports events, concerts and other productions.
Bak formerly worked for electronics giant Daktronics and has been involved in similar projects at universities across the country.
Reach Doug Carroll at 639.8011 or [email protected].
