Seeing is believing at Grundfos’ stunning new corporate events venue

When the global water technology company Grundfos wanted to build a state-of-the-art event hall at its headquarters in Denmark's Bjerringbro, the company chose Panasonic projectors and 4K PTZ cameras for its visual requirements. The venue would replace the existing sports hall, that was doubling-up as an events venue, and provide a modern environment capable of hosting everything from exhibitions, product presentations and staff meetings to concerts, theatre and hybrid events.

Nicolai Fogt, the Senior AV Technician at Grundfos, had four guiding principles for the 1,000sqm2 building that would create a visitor hub alongside the company's visitor centre and training academy that attracts around 10,000 visitors in a regular year.

“We wanted an event hall that was flexible in the way it could be configured, easy to use and comfortable to be in,” explained Nicolai. “Lastly, and very importantly, we wanted to spend our money in the right way to ensure we invested well and future-proofed the building.”

Grundfos chose COWI, the international consulting group specialising in engineering, environmental science and economics, to work with them on the building project. Infrastructure and cabling were the first priority and tendered together with the main building project under the electricity contract.

The cable infrastructure includes SDI for 4K / 12G, and 110 ohm cable for audio. There is also separate 120 ohm DMX cabling, fibre cabling for AV and CAT cabling, which can be used for both networks, HDBaseT and Dante.In addition to the fixed cabling, there is a 160mm empty pipe system hidden in the floor for future or additional requirements.

The event hall has been designed so that it can be configured for any size or type of event. The venue can be divided into up to three different rooms, each with the capability to support events simultaneously.

Crystal clear PTZ camera images

In addition to the Panasonic projectors, four fixed and two mobile Panasonic PTZ cameras, with a Panasonic AW-RP150 Remote Camera Controller, have been installed in the event hall for capturing, projecting and streaming events. The four fixed Panasonic AW-UE150 4K PTZ cameras are installed in the recess of the back wall.

“These cameras are some ways from the staging area and it was important that they could be used with the event lighting – rather than specialist video lighting,” explained Kristian. “We tested the light sensitivity and the ability to clearly zoom in and the picture quality was amazing.”

Nicolai added that one user had commented that: “The light sensitivity is near perfect – even zooming in from 20m.”

For the two mobile PTZ cameras on tripods, the Panasonic AW-UE100 4K cameras were chosen because of the ability to seamless match picture quality. Scene files are special files that alter the image output from a camera to ensure that each camera can be picture-matched despite having different sensor sizes. Panasonic has a host of scene files available for the UE150 for download from its website to enable picture-match to a host of its other cameras.

Important partnership

Nicolai explained that the AV process had been a very positive experience with Grundfos, COWI and Panasonic reseller AV CENTER working closely together. "One of the reasons AV CENTER was chosen was the immediate working chemistry. We speak the same language and they are very responsive.We worked closely together to plan the project and budget – making savings in the right places until the budget was reached.”

“Panasonic was the right decision for us,” concluded Nicolai. “My first instinct was Panasonic and after all the checks and tests, it proved to be correct. We have a solution that is excellent quality, reliable and flexible for our needs now and in the future.”