Unique Westside Recreation and Shopping Center Relies on Barix Acoustic Irradiation

The newly opened Westside Shopping and Leisure Center in Bern–Brünnen is more than just another shopping mall. In addition to shops and a food court, Westside also includes a multiplex cinema, hotel, rooms for seminars and the largest leisure pool & spa with a fitness park in Switzerland. The builder Neue Brünnen AG commissioned Digital Media Distribution AG (DMD²) for the customized acoustic irradiation of shops, arcades and food court. For the distribution of the ten individualized music channels DMD2 relies on the IP streaming components from Barix AG.

The building complex which has been designed by star architect Daniel Libeskind forms the core of the completely new district in Bern–Brünnen. This includes the highway cover and the construction of approximately 800 apartments. Westside itself includes approximately 55 specialty shops and boutiques, ten restaurants and bars, a multiplex cinema with eleven theaters, a hotel with 144 rooms, eleven rooms for seminars and the largest leisure pool & spa in Switzerland. Until its completion, Westside has been the largest private construction project in Switzerland with an investment amount of approximately 500 million Swiss francs (more than 300 million euros). The high–quality and innovative approach of Westside is also reflected in its acoustic irradiation solution. It is based on dividing the building into several zones. These zones are a result of spatial conditions or their function, e.g. as food court or event area. For each zone, one Barix Exstreamer has been installed which only required to be connected to the existing local network. It receives an audio stream via the Internet, converts it into music and feeds the signal to the audio system on site. On each Barix Exstreamer users can set, similar to a radio, which one of the ten channels the device receives. For example, the same sound is heard throughout the entire Westside Center or chill–out sounds are played in the mall and party music at a fashion show in the event area. Eight of the ten radio channels are also available to the specialty shops and boutiques. They do not require their own Exstreamer; they receive the audio streams via the existing cable network. For this purpose, eight additional Exstreamers act like a terminal. Each Barix device receives a different Westside music channel via the Internet, decodes the signal and feeds it into the cable network. The system can be expanded as required without any problems. The components from Barix are completely maintenance–free and long–lived. In the case of system failures, backup functions which keep up the audio flow are triggered immediately. Exstreamer furthermore convinces with a favorable price starting at approx. 160 euros.