2007 ARCHI-TECH AV Awards - General Award - New York City OEM

Architects: Swanke Hayden Connell

AV System Integrators: SPL Integrated Solutions

Design Consultants: Shen Milsom & Wilke, Inc.

Amidst the devastation from the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, was the destruction of the headquarters for the New York City Office of Emergency Management. Given the opportunity to build a new headquarters, city officials knew that New York needed to be at the forefront of emergency management planning.

An obsolete, three-story office building built in 1954 was gutted and renovated in order to meet a tight budget while following "green" design principles. At the heart of the facility is the spectacular design and implementation of audio and video systems in three main rooms on the third floor - Emergency Operations Center (EOC), Watch Command, and Situation Room. One of the greatest challenges was to provide systems in which information from thousands of sources could easily be accessed and displayed.

The facility also contains numerous AV-equipped training, conference, press briefing and meeting rooms, but the most sophisticated technology and architectural design is  found in these three key spaces.