Bumble and bumble University is a multifunctional facility using technology to teach advanced haircutting techniques to students that come into NYC from all over the country.
Programmed for VideoSonic, this combination of a Macromedia Director front-end talking to a Crestron Control System back-end allows instructors to control all elements within the classrooms or auditorium: lights can be dimmed, projectors controlled, videos played and rerouted, cameras controlled, audio routed and projector screens extended. All media elements can be routed and controlled from classroom to classrom or to any of the salons on the upper floors, or from the 103 seat auditorium. Each room has two cameras which can be routed just as any video source, or recorded to dvd media, allowing the school in essence, to be a television studio.
Control system software on Apple iBooks allow instructors to create and control their own shows complete with hardware control and interface switching so that music fades out, lights dim, screens roll out, projectors are started and cameras focused – all with the touch of a ‘scene begin’ button.
The 3rd floor is their university, containing 4 intimate classrooms and a 103 seat auditorium. The supporting content is distributed to the classrooms using networked digital video servers, while the classes themselves are controlled by a facillitator using WiFi tablet computers.
The 4th and 5th floors are their corporate offices, the 6th floor is a teaching salon, and the 7th & 8th house the salons open to the public, retail shops, and a restaurant.
In addition to the instructional content utilized for the classes, 12 digital video content channels are generated – information about products, events and industry news – are displayed throughout the facility on BumbleTV.