Project Description
Overview
Zurich Insurance is a global insurance company initially founded in 1872. The Quai Zurich Campus is located in Zurich, Switzerland and serves as the company’s global headquarters. The campus consists of a pair of historic buildings dating back over a century, as well as three new ones targeted for Leed Platinum Certification and designed by Krischanitz Architects to encompass a variety of professional needs. When the brand sought a refresh of its offices in 2015, it retained the services of WSDG for AV system design and integration.
Program
The WSDG design team was tasked with creating the A/V ‘vision’ of the new campus, one that would utilize the latest audio, video, collaboration and networking technology to seamlessly encompass every AV infrastructural requirement of the organization from its public-facing areas to its private office spaces and group conference areas without any compromises to quality or effectiveness.
Design
The principal new building includes an auditorium for 400 people and the slightly smaller Lakeview Lounge on the top floor. Over 100 conference and project rooms of various sizes are arranged on all floors, outfitted for video conferencing within the complex. Depending on use cases and architecture Shure ceiling microphones, wireless microphones from the Axient series and Microflex Wireless Systems are utilized as well as NEC and Avocor touch screens and Microsoft surface hubs. Custom built loudspeakers that fit the adjacent display’s dimensions were designed and manufactured by Stoll Audio.
Some areas of the Quai Zurich Campus are open to the public and display parts of the company’s well-known art collection. These areas feature user-friendly NEC and Avocor touchscreens for visitors, as well as discrete loudspeakers for pleasant background music that utilize a QSC Audio Distribution System on a Dante network.
The art nouveau heritage buildings are home to the Executive Offices and Boardroom as well as the Heritage Center, a high-tech nod illustrating the firm’s history. Some of these rooms are also able to seamlessly teleconference using multiple service providers, including Zoom, Teams, and CISCO on the same in-room infrastructure.
The campus also includes three main conference rooms with wall-sized LED screens. WSDG engineering implemented an innovative cooling solution behind two of these screens that utilizes water reused from Lake Zurich.