The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) is the fourth autonomous university in Singapore. It is also the only university presently situated on the eastern side of Singapore. SUTD is a top emerging engineering school globally with the ambition to be a leading research-intensive global university focused on technology and all elements of technology-based design.
SUTD started life in an interim campus in 2012 and moved to its permanent space in January 2015. The SUTD campus was designed by DP Architects Pte Ltd in collaboration with UNStudio from Amsterdam, featuring a green design with fluid lines and curves. Here is something to note – Hong Kong action movie star Jackie Chan had gifted four ancient Chinese structures which have been purposefully integrated within the campus.
The university has a number of locations ranging from classrooms to meeting rooms that required visual displays for better presentation and collaboration. The Audio-Visual department of the Office of Information Technology, decided that projectors would best meet their needs.
SUTD currently features over 220 Epson projectors on its campus, ranging from desktop, interactive to short-throws and high-brightness projectors. SUTD also has the honour of being the first in the region to install Epson’s 30,000 lumens projector.
Tan May Lin, Director, Epson Sales Division, is pleased that SUTD continues to have faith in Epson projectors. “Epson is proud to partner with SUTD. We are happy that SUTD continues to have confidence in our projectors over the years as we meet their evolving needs. The university has a range of our projectors from interactive, desktop to high brightness that span from 3,500 to 30,000 lumens. These projectors are deployed across the campus from classrooms, labs, lecture theatres to the auditorium. Our projectors offer large display screen size with sharp, vibrant images. As a leader in 3LCD technology, Epson helps facilitate learning, collaboration and enhanced experiences of performances and events at SUTD.”
There are 12 cohort classrooms in SUTD. The classrooms are used for project discussions and breakout sessions. Each cohort classroom features 2 units of Epson’s EB-L510U – 5,000 lumens, WUXGA, desktop laser and 5 units of EB-695Wi – 3,500 lumens, WXGA, ultra short throw interactive lamp models. The projectors installed enable ease of sharing and discussions. The advantage of having the ultra short throw models is that they ensure that the classroom space is maximised and offer easy viewing and readability with its large image projection for all in the classroom.
2 units of the Epson EB-695Wi projectors are also installed in each of the three Automation, Robotics and Mechatronics (ARMS) labs. Regular classrooms and meeting rooms also feature the Epson EB-L510U projectors. Some of the meeting rooms include the Epson EB-970 – 4,000 lumens, XGA, desktop lamp models while other meeting rooms feature Epson EB- 800F – 5,000 lumens, WUXGA, ultra short throw laser projectors.
2 units of Epson EB-L1505UHNL – 12,000 lumens, WUXGA, laser projectors are installed in the Fabrication lab. The mix of lamp-based and laser-based projectors is due to the university switching in phases from the original lamp-based projectors purchased earlier to laser-based projectors. As the lamp-based projectors are still in proper working conditions, the university will replace them with laser-based projectors in the coming years.
1 unit of Epson EB-700U – 4,000 lumens, WUXGA, ultra short throw laser projector is installed in each of the 10 CAPSTONE classrooms. The Capstone classroom brings together students from different pillars to work in design teams, contributing their respective expertise and skills to solve real-world challenges. It also provides them with a realistic design situation where projects usually span multiple disciplines and require team-based efforts to create a solution.
Three of the Lecture Theatres feature 2 units each of the Epson EB-L1100U/UNL – 6,000 lumens, WUXGA, laser projectors. There is one more unit installed at the Intelligence, Innovation and Interconnection (i3) Lab. The 50-seater i3 Lab is a multi-functional space used by faculty, students and prospective students for their classes, labs, student projects, research or outreach workshops.
Another Lecture Theatre features 2 units of Epson EB-L1495UNL – 9,000 lumens, WUXGA, laser projectors with Epson ELPLL08 long-throw lenses. The largest Lecture Theatre (LT1) features 3 units of Epson EB-L20000UNL – 20,000 lumens, WUXGA, laser projectors. LT1 has a seating capacity of 500 and is used for large combined lectures, guest lectures and is the secondary event venue after the auditorium for internal events like SUTD’s Townhall.
“As a key venue within SUTD, the need for a high lumens projector with Full HD resolution capability is crucial in meeting current event technical requirements. This is the reason we went with the 20,000 lumens projectors fitted with the medium-throw Epson ELPLM14 lenses,” said Jason Philip Dean, Manager, Audio-Visual, Office of Information Technology, SUTD.
First Epson 30,000 Lumens Projector in Region
SUTD has the distinct honour of being the first organisation to install Epson EB-L30000UNL – 30,000 lumens, high brightness laser projector in the region. The projector is fitted with a medium-throw ELPLM14 lens.
Jason commented, “SUTD’s auditorium seats around 1,100 including at the mezzanine level. The auditorium is our core venue for major internal and external events. Example of events held here includes our freshman inauguration and matriculation ceremony, graduation ceremony and open house events. We have also had multiple government and private events held here.
The distance between the last seat and the stage screen is approximately 30 metres. Needless to say, we needed the projector to have high resolution and brightness and the ability to project large images sharply. We are pleased that Epson’s 30,000 lumens projector met more than our expectations. We have received glowing feedback about the quality of the images projected.”
Hafiz Bin Hasnol, Senior Associate, Audio-Visual, Office of Information Technology, added, “The Epson 30,000 lumens projector has an instant ON. There is no need to wait for the projector to warm up, which is very useful when time is tight. In addition, even with the house lights operating at 100%, the images are still sharp and clear. This is useful in certain circumstances when we need to operate with the house lights on.”
Why Epson?
Taking responsibility for the recommendation, installation and integration of the Epson projectors in SUTD was established systems integrator Electro-Acoustics Systems (EAS).
“We recommended Epson projectors to SUTD because of their wide range of projector types, resolution, lumens, and lens coverage, which we felt would fulfil the needs of the various room types in the university. Epson projectors have also proven to be reliable in the projects we have been involved with. Whenever proof of concept is required, Epson projectors have performed very well, including stress tests on site. This has given us confidence in recommending Epson projectors,” said Lam Tze Tze, Executive Director of EAS.
The projectors are installed in the Cohort classrooms, Labs, Lecture Theatres, meeting rooms and the auditorium.
Lam Tze Tze added, “Due to the unique classroom designs, the form factor of the projector was also a consideration, and especially the Epson ultra short-throw projectors was a perfect fit for the cohort classrooms. Besides, at SUTD, students are required to produce 3D modelling textures and material rendering for their presentations. Therefore, high colour reproduction of colour hue, saturation and brightness for presentation is essential to produce true colour and tone, which again was easily achieved by the Epson projectors.”
