It had an AV budget that few museums can command-a healthy percentage of the project's $450 million budget, consumed by hundreds of loudspeakers and screens, 100 miles of fiber-optic cable, nearly 200 racks, and enough broadcast equipment to run a broadcast studio-two, actually. While other museums use AV to tell a story of history, nature, or man, the Newseum artifacts are made of audio and video; future artifacts will certainly be made of similar stuff. And like all things, the business plan for museums has to evolve and change, so the Newseum's AV plan was not all about history-it was also designed to be a living venue for tomorrow's news. All this was in evidence in mid-April; the day before the doors opened to the public, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker had broadcast their press conference from the studio at the center of the Newseum's third level (of seven). The studio, which seats a mid-sized audience, is also designed so that it can be observed in action from several floors of the museum through the glass walls.
展开▼
