Kimberly-Clark Corporation World HQ

Introduction

Before walking into a large Corporation's boardroom, one's mind begins to have an image of the meeting room. Elongated, hand-crafted, cherry wood table with large, high-back chairs, very exquisite, almost breathtaking. Then as you walk in, your eyes begin to roam around the room, looking at every nook and cranny, seeing what is in place, and how the room is equipped for meetings. Across the elongated table you see a large screen with the company's logo on it. "Very Impressive," but most importantly, it is very effective for the needs of the corporation.

Meeting the top standards of "Corporate America" and the technological needs of the industry, while also incorporating a specific architectural design in a boardroom, is not always easy. For many buildings, designs tend to be crystallized before conception of the needs of the audio and video system's dressing is even begun and the application of the presentation technologies have been an afterthought overlaid upon the architectural design.

Kimberly-Clark, a multi-billion dollar corporation and makers of Kleenex, Huggies and other well know household brands, illustrated how state-of-the-art technology can propel a large corporation into the 21st century. General Projection Systems, Inc. was able to meet the challenge of creating acoustically serene spaces while designing for the future of technology in corporate boardrooms.

Design

The application of audiovisual presentation technologies at the Corporate level is not a new area of design, but it did require the synthesis of a number of different disciplines to ensure that the boardroom met the requirements of the installation and the customer's desires.

The highly professional installation to exacting technical specifications ties into Kimberly-Clark's in-house news network for video production.

The Board Room

The boardroom utilizes rear projection for video, cable, TV, slide dissolve and computer presentation. A Sony high-resolution CRT-based projector provides the data projection with two Kodak slide projectors stacked for dissolve presentations.

The Kimberly-Clark Corporation Board Room
(notice the Kleenex boxes on the table!)

A Panasonic Universal VCR provides the video source for VHS presentations. A Sony TV tuner converts the cable signal. All video sources are routed through a scan doubler improving perceived resolution by 100%.

There are two audio systems. Program audio speakers are hidden behind the fabric from the wall on each side of the projection screen. These speakers provide playback for VHS and TV audio. Eight ceiling speakers provide voice reinforcement from the lectern microphone as well as the eight flush mounted table microphones and future videoconferences. Both systems are powered by amplifiers located in the equipment rack.

A VanSan lectern incorporates an AMX touch panel for full control over the presentation system and environment.

The Atrium

The Atrium is a large open area that uses rear projection with a very high brightness Hughes/JVC ILA projector for all video presentations. Computer, video, TV and slide to video conversion are all routed through this projector.

Due to unusual dimensions of the rear projection room, General Projection Systems was required to reflect the projected images off a mirror in a trapezoidal form.

The "Atrium" at KimClark HQ

Sound is delivered through two systems. Two powerful Apogee program speakers fill the thousand seat space to provide audio playback for VHS and TV sources. Twelve in wall Sound Advance speakers that are completely hidden from sight provide speech reinforcement and background music.

As in the boardroom, all equipment is controlled from the AMX control system mounted in the VanSan Lectern. Three floor boxes on the stage allows for the lectern to be relocated depending on the format of the event.

Building Television System

An RF Distribution Systems was installed to provide both TV and Character Generated Information to the boardroom, Atrium and numerous offices located throughout the building. This gives Kimberly-Clark the flexibility to display their latest stock quotes or receive Kimberly-Clark related TV news.

Success

New technologies currently becoming available enable large corporations to interactively display the vast amount of information in a data-rich environment. Additionally, management's time and travel can be overcome by remote, two-way distribution. The net result is better and more efficient communication.

Kimberly-Clark recently absorbed Scott Paper. The decision to make the major acquisition/merger was made in the boardroom completed by General Projection Systems. The board of directors of Kimberly-Clark is not only better informed now but can more rapidly acquire the information necessary to make such major decisions through the effective application of presentation and conferencing capabilities to their overall information system.

For more information on Board Room design and integration or other corporate multimedia communications systems, please fill out our Information Request form or email us at Solutions@genproj.com