Tulsa, OK
The Gathering Place, the largest public park gift in U.S. history, completed phase one of the 100 acre project. The size and detail of the park’s design necessitated a standardized AV system that blended in to both the indoor and outdoor facilities.
Features
- 165” projection screen with custom painted speaker housing provides entertainment and presentation capabilities in Great Hall at the Lodge
- 31 outdoor rock speakers blend in with the environment and provide music and PA announcements to visitors
- 55” outdoor displays furnish digital signage and menu options at the cafe
- Custom projector lift installed in the Boathouse can extend over 30’ to the floor for easy access and maintenance
- 55” display and video conferencing capabilities in the main office conference room
Participants
Owner: George Kaiser Family Foundation
Architect: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
General Contractor: Crossland Construction
AV Contractor: Ford Audio-Video Systems
Along the banks of the Arkansas River, nearly 100 acres of Tulsa’s waterfront have been transformed into A Gathering Place, a park where the community can congregate and enjoy a plethora of activities. The park, opened in 2018, is the largest single public park gift in U.S. history and is garnering attention across the country for its scale and grandeur. From custom imported French light posts to a hand carved ceiling, the park spared no expense. To create an experience to match, they sought an audio-visual experience that blended in naturally with their indoor facilities and the outdoor environment. Ryan Dickerson, Ford Project Manager, said “We had to get very creative when it came to placing the technology in a way that visitors couldn’t readily see. Crossland and the George Kaiser Foundation empowered us to design the AV system to provide a great experience to park guests.”
Due to the custom architecture and woodworking, the interior of the buildings created a challenge to integrate hidden AV. For example, the ceiling in The Great Hall at the Lodge features a custom wood trimmed ceiling. This required the Ford team to paint the wood trim of the speaker encasings so they blended in with the different colors of wood. In the Boat House, Ford installed a custom projector lift that can extend all the way to the floor for maintenance. Dickerson continues, “There was quite a bit of give and take with the architect to make this all happen. They were adamant that the technology needed to be invisible as to not interfere with the flow they were going for. It was great to partner with them to truly deliver an exceptional AV system that met their needs.”
Throughout the exterior portions of the park, Ford installed over thirty outdoor rock speakers among shrubbery and trees. The speakers naturally blend into the environment and are unobtrusive to the eye. Dickerson concludes, “In the end, this project is a huge win for Tulsa. The city has something they can be proud of for many years to come and it will definitely help revitalize the area with all the other urban development.”
