Ready for the world stage

The official inauguration of Université Senghor’s new campus in Alexandria was always going to attract international attention. Opened during a visit by French president Emmanuel Macron and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the university’s new headquarters represents a significant symbol of educational cooperation between Egypt and France. Behind the political significance, however, sat a more practical challenge: creating a venue capable of functioning simultaneously as an educational institution, conference facility and professional performance environment.

Tasked with delivering the audiovisual infrastructure across the campus, Egyptian integrator Audio Technology supplied and installed systems spanning classrooms, laboratories, boardrooms, lecture halls, meeting spaces and the university’s main theatre. While hybrid learning and campus-wide AV control formed an important part of the wider deployment, the technical centrepiece of the project became the university’s multifunctional theatre and event venue. Beyond day-to-day academic activities, the theatre is expected to host conferences, official ceremonies, visiting delegations and cultural performances within a single integrated environment.

“Routing large quantities of audio, power, RF and DMX cabling through finished ceilings and confined spaces required careful site coordination,” adds Ibrahim. “Extensive onsite adjustments and optimisation were required to ensure both technical performance and visual integration.”

The completed venue was ultimately designed to support a broad range of applications. Given the university’s international profile, support for governmental and diplomatic events also formed part of the operational brief.

While the theatre formed the project’s technical focal point, Audio Technology also implemented a wider campus AV infrastructure designed to support both in-person and hybrid learning environments across the university.

Philips 86BDL4052E interactive displays were installed throughout classrooms and laboratories, while Uniguest U670 PTZ instructor-tracking cameras and TP5-HDMI-QUAD lecture recording systems were integrated to support distance learning and e-learning applications. Audio systems incorporating microphones, BSS BLU-100 DSP platforms and TOA PC-648R, TZ-606 and PC-2852 loudspeakers were deployed throughout teaching and meeting spaces to ensure speech clarity across both local and remote environments.

The primary objective of the project was to create a modern educational facility aligned with international university standards. “Another major objective was achieving professional production quality while maintaining operational simplicity for the university’s internal technical team,” explains Tuodour Ibrahim, senior design and pre-sales engineer, pro systems at Audio Technology. “Speech intelligibility, audience coverage consistency, lighting flexibility and long-term reliability were all considered essential performance targets. The university also wanted the venue to reflect the institution’s international identity and cultural importance through high-end technical infrastructure.”

Furthermore, the project arrived with an additional complication. Audio Technology entered the site during the final stages of construction, after most architectural finishes, wall cladding, ceilings and fixed seating installations had already been completed.

“This significantly increased the complexity of the integration process and required customised installation methodologies to preserve the finished architectural appearance,” continues Ibrahim.

The new setup inside the theatre centres around a JBL Professional sound reinforcement system built on the manufacturer’s BRX line array platform. The system combines BRX308-LA line array loudspeakers with BRX325SP powered dual-15-inch subwoofers for primary reinforcement, while JBL Control 28-1 loudspeakers provide front-fill coverage throughout the venue. JBL PRX908 systems were deployed for stage monitoring, complemented by JBL studio reference monitors within the control environment. Audio control and signal management are handled through a Soundcraft Si Impact digital mixing console and Soundcraft digital stageboxes, with BSS Soundweb London processors providing centralised DSP management and system optimisation.

Meeting rooms also received discussion systems integrated with PTZ camera tracking functionality, while the theatre incorporated a large Absen CPS2.5 dvLED videowall with a 2.5mm pixel pitch to support presentations and event content. The project additionally included a simultaneous interpretation system from Televic, reflecting the university’s multilingual and international operational requirements.

Campus-wide AV control is standardised around Crestron processors, allowing centralised management of systems across different teaching and conferencing spaces.

Audio Technology’s wider integration team involved approximately 25 engineers and installation specialists, working alongside architectural, electrical and structural contractors throughout the final stages of construction. Tight project deadlines linked to the presidential inauguration required accelerated installation schedules and extensive testing ahead of the official opening. Commissioning included loudspeaker optimisation, DSP programming, RF coordination, lighting scene testing and full operational rehearsals under live event conditions before final acceptance by the university.

Wireless infrastructure came from Shure and includes SLX-D wireless systems, handheld microphones, bodypack transmitters, DuraPlex headset microphones and podium microphones. Active antenna and RF distribution systems were also integrated to support stable wireless operation during conferences, presentations and live performances.

“The selected manufacturers were chosen based on performance reliability, international reputation, integration compatibility and suitability for professional theatre environments,” notes Hany Emad, senior design engineer within Audio Technology’s AV department. “JBL Professional systems were selected because of their strong performance in speech intelligibility, controlled coverage and live event reinforcement applications. The venue needed to support both speech-focused academic activities and higher-energy live events within the same environment and the BRX platform provided the necessary output power and acoustic consistency required for the theatre environment.”

The lighting infrastructure inside the theatre spans Lightsky profile fixtures, Fresnel fixtures and moving heads alongside LED bar systems and DMX distribution networks. Audio Technology also supplied professional truss systems from Fenix, stage rigging infrastructure and the venue’s wider signal and power distribution systems.

According to the team, balancing aesthetics with performance became one of the defining elements of the project. Loudspeaker suspension angles, truss positioning and lighting focus points all had to be carefully coordinated to preserve architectural sightlines and the finished appearance of the theatre while still achieving the required production performance.

Despite the compressed timeline and integration constraints, Audio Technology views the project as one of its most significant recent education-sector deployments, not only because of the university’s international profile, but because of the complexity involved in merging professional live-event infrastructure with modern educational technology inside a single unified environment.

“This project demonstrates our ability to deliver solutions at international standards while adapting to complex real-world construction conditions,” concludes Andrew Helmy, senior sales account manager at Audio Technology. “It also highlights the company’s capability to bridge the gap between educational infrastructure and professional live-event technology, creating a venue that serves both academic and cultural purposes at a very high operational level.”