The New Newsmakers

Point Park University, Center for Media Innovation

To Project Types

Pittsburgh, PA | 3,763 SF

More than a broadcast center, this university puts media making on full display.

At Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation students learn the impact of the stories they put into the world and prepare for the future of news gathering and sharing. Rooted in integrity, accuracy, transparency, Point Park also introduces students to the latest technology, from broadcast to podcast and beyond.

View into student recording studio
Collaboration space overlooks the large studio and a busy downtown intersection.
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This is a place to change the paradigm…this place is really essential for our students to prepare them to go out into a rapidly evolving industry.

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- Andrew Conte, Director, Point Park Center for Media Innovation

Placing the video and voice studios close to a bustling downtown intersection emphasized journalism’s tradition of transparency with high visibility. But Point Park’s urban location—traffic, sirens, even pedestrian conversation had to remain outside the studio—required specific acoustical considerations. Double glazed studio windows (tilted to prevent interior reflections) and a three foot gap between the exterior glass insulate recording spaces from street noise.

Point Park’s urban location, and specifically this street corner, required specific acoustical considerations.

With street-level downtown space often at a premium, spaces have to do double, sometimes triple, duty. Double glazed folding walls create sound barriers between communal student study space, the newsroom, and the photo studio, but can be opened to combine spaces. The wall between the newsroom and photo studio (complete with cyclorama wall) pivots 90 degrees, allowing the three spaces to become one for guest lectures, gallery openings, and other events.

Behind the scenes are offices, the studio control room, and a talent room with tunable white lights that sync with studio lights so on-air hosts and guests are always camera ready.