A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of organizing an event at the North Carolina State University’s (NCSU) new James B. Hunt Jr. Library. This event was an opportunity for Biamp to recognize some amazing design, build partners, and provide an opportunity for local architects and consultants to participate in a guided tour of the facility. In addition to the behind-the-scenes-tour, we had the pleasure of hearing from Julian Treasure, a four-time TED speaker and friend of Biamp.

This event was actually the culmination of a week-long media tour, where great conversations were had with WIRED magazine and June Cohen’s team at TED. It was also where I continued my education and awareness of how I interact and react to the environmental sounds around me in my never-ending efforts to carve out a space where I can work, talk, think, and interact with others.

As someone who is hyper-aware of environmental sounds, I often find myself in sensory overload as my brain deals with all the environmental information around me. Many times during the week I “escape” this overload by moving to another location, going to my car, or most often putting on headphones. What was interesting (and exciting) to me at the NCSU event, was realizing that the awareness of the impact environmental sound makes on us throughout our lives is on the rise. And is increasingly taken into consideration in the design of new buildings and spaces.

We all struggle at times to find a place to concentrate and focus. I see this with my children as all three create their own “space” to do homework, each creating their own custom environment that provides them what they need to be successful and productive.

I witnessed this on a large scale at NCSU’s Hunt Library. This newly christened facility truly is the “library of the future” as it has successfully provided students, faculty, and the surrounding community with a place for collaboration, concentration, creative partnership, and technological advantages all under one roof. The variety of spaces that have been created is nothing short of amazing: there are music and media production rooms, an immersion theater, a 400-seat auditorium, a gaming lab, a creativity studio, and a visualization lab. These and other spaces provide not just the video, but also the audio necessary, using our Audia® products, for a superior experience and productive environment.

One of the most amazing aspects was the integration of audio across so many different spaces. From meeting rooms with basic audio needs, to more advanced requirements of the visualization lab with its 270-degree surround video and three-dimensional sound experience. Audio was processed and integrated with both video and lighting to deliver multiple levels to the experience. Interestingly, these spaces were designed to contain and limit the reverberation of speech and other noise created by students working together, or in one of these specialty spaces. The various ways in which Audia was used to process and route signals clearly illustrates why it continues to be a market leader – quite impressive for an 11-year-old product line.

So what does all this have to do with me loving my job?

Well, I love my job because I get to experience first-hand a space like the NCSU Hunt Library. It’s a space that is designed to enable people to be productive, and it incorporates the technology that we use both in business and in our personal lives. Combine these with the fact that I get to work with some unbelievably talented, creative, and amazing people–both at Biamp and with our partners–in an industry that’s close to my heart.