Systems Design & Installations Portfolio
Custom Design & Installation @ Bridgewater State College

The Auditorium Audio, Lighting & Rigging System Installation

Boyden Hall, located on west campus of Bridgewater State College, was constructed as main building in 1924 following the campus fire that year. On the lowest level, School Street side, is the Horace Mann Auditorium. Bridgewater

The Horace Mann Theater, located inside Boyden Hall on the Bridgewater State College, High Output in was chosen by Bridgewater State College to design and install a complete state-of-the-art theater system which included: full audio, lighting, rigging and draping systems in the auditorium located inside the Boyden Hall building - named for Mr. Albert Gardner Boyden, a member of the class of 1849.

Boyden Hall on the Bridgewater State College campus

Interestingly, this project began as a conversation our theatrical rigging technician, David Seneca had with the project architect concerning a fire curtain. The architects' original plan was to use several vendors for his ideas concerning the theatrical systems inside the auditorium. While talking about the curtain, and the colleges' plan for the auditorium, David, with his consummate knowledge of fully integrated theatrical systems, so impressed the architect he awarded the entire installations contract to High Output.

During the long months of construction and installation, David also made some observations that the roof had been leaking for sometime and the existing beams were structurally unsound to support new rigging. Some disagreed with the observation, but once old drywall was removed from the ceiling they found David was completely right in his thinking. As it so happened, there were steel beams to be installed for the support of rigging in the very location of the roofing repairs.

Through David's observation Bridgewater State College ended up with a much stronger roof on the auditorium which is now reinforced by the steel beams needed to support the rigging, and in turn High Output was chosen for the entire theatrical system integration project.

The Challenge

The auditorium, which was built in 1928, had not been updated since the late 1940's and was sorely in need of a complete renovation. The original walls were covered by beautifully hand-painted murals which had to be covered during the renovation process. . As examples:

• the building, being very old limited the ability to run conduit and needed wiring though the walls
• to maintain the historical elements of the original auditorium
• to create a multi-purpose theatrical, auditory, multimedia presentation and learning space

Our Solution

We set out to create a fully integrated system where all the functional elements and components would work together seamlessly while simultaneously giving both the presenter and the audience the fullest enjoyment of their experience inside the room, as well as, to give teachers and their students the highest level of modern classroom capabilities, yet maintaining the historical motif within.

The Outcome

Today the Horace Mann Auditorium is a pinnacle state-of-the-art performance venue capable of transitioning into a classroom space, a motion picture theater, concert hall or lecture hall at a moments notice. The entire audio and video systems can be remotely controlled from any location, including by someone sitting alongside others in the audience.