Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, one of the most highly respected and well-known medical education facilities in the world, recently opened its $45 million Anne and Michael Armstrong Medical Education Building. The new facility includes two Harkness Matt Plus Mini-Perf screens and Wrap-round frames in its lecture hall.

This large lecture hall space was designed to have the ability to be split into two separate rooms by pulling out folding panels across the middle of the auditorium. As a result, two projection screens were installed on each side of the partition so the space can be used as either one large lecture hall capable of seating 360 students or two smaller rooms that can accommodate 180 students each.

“The installation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine presented a unique challenge to us because we had to align the actual screen itself with the adjacent wood panels and had very limited space behind the wall,” says Rick Wilson, product manager for Projection Screens and Visual Display Boards at Sun Controls who led the installation on the project. “Normally, this particular frame is hung on the wall and the frame itself comes out off the wall.”

It took some ingenuity on the part of Wilson and his crew to be able to maneuver the screen and install it properly. “We had to wrap the screen on the floor and lift it up into place which is different than how you would normally install this type and size of screen,” continues Wilson.

For this project, two 3-tower Wrap round frame systems each with a picture size of 10 feet 5 inches x 18 feet 8 inches were used. The bottom picture line is seven feet.

“Harkness was chosen because of its reliability and affordability,” adds Wilson. “The screens we installed are a beautiful looking product and a great fabric. We have received nothing but positive feedback from the people at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute.”

Harkness’ Matt Plus screens are considered by leading cinema exhibitors worldwide to be the best matt white projection surface. The flexible PVC-based material is manufactured to a unique formulation and specification providing wide viewing angles, high contrast, bright pictures and excellent color temperature.