Vanguard University Creates a Flexible, Intuitive Gathering Space with Symetrix
How Vantage Pro used Symetrix processing and control to enable the Freed Center to transition effortlessly between athletics, chapel, worship, graduations, and campus events
Modern university facilities rarely serve a single purpose. A space designed for athletics may also need to host student gatherings, worship services, academic programs, donor events, and commencement ceremonies, often with entirely different production teams responsible for each occasion.
At Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California, that reality shaped the technical design of the Freed Center, a major campus facility created to support the physical, spiritual, communal, and academic development of the university community.
At the heart of the facility is a 1,910-seat gymnasium designed to function as much more than an athletic venue. Throughout the year, the space must accommodate basketball games, chapel services, worship gatherings, graduations, presentations, donor events, exercise classes, and other university programs running the gamut.
Each application places different demands on the room’s audio, video, lighting, and control systems. The people operating those systems also vary widely, from experienced production professionals to campus employees and volunteers who may have only a few minutes to get comfortable with the technology.
To bring these requirements together, Vanguard University worked with national AVL design-build integrator Vantage Pro to create an adaptable technical environment built around simplicity, reliability, and long-term flexibility. To do this, the Vantage Pro team looked no further than Symetrix, whose audio processing and control provides the connective layer that allows the university to move between dramatically different room configurations while giving each operator an intuitive way to manage the space.
Designing a Modern Multipurpose Space
Founded in 1920, Vanguard University is a private Christian university whose mission extends beyond academic achievement to the spiritual and personal development of its students.
The Freed Center reflects that mission. In addition to serving as a central hub for Vanguard Athletics and its more than 450 student-athletes, the broader facility supports academic programming, campus gatherings, and a growing kinesiology program. The gymnasium itself needed to become a shared university resource rather than a venue merely dedicated to sporting events.
That shared ownership introduced one of the project’s central challenges.
“The Freed Center is quintessentially multi-use,” said Marc Breda of Vantage Pro. “There are many groups using one dynamic space, and each group needs the room to support different types of events throughout the school year. The systems have to be flexible enough for those different applications while remaining very straightforward for the person who walks in and needs to operate them.”
Vantage Pro led the university through its Foresight Design process, beginning with the institution’s vision and long-term goals before moving into system design. The process involved key stakeholders throughout planning so that the final environment would support Vanguard’s immediate production requirements while remaining adaptable as the university’s needs evolve. Vantage Pro designed and implemented the gymnasium’s audio, acoustics, video, lighting, and shared control systems, ensuring the technology functioned as part of the facility rather than as a collection of systems cobbled together.
That early involvement has become increasingly important as professional AV systems converge with networked and IT infrastructure.
“Users expect to walk into a space and have everything work,” Breda explained. “There used to be a laminated sheet in the room listing the eight things that had to be turned on; people don’t have patience for that anymore – they want AV that functions as intuitively as their smart devices. The integrator has to become involved earlier so that audio, video, lighting, networking, and control are designed together for that same type of experience.”
One Room, Many Orientations
The challenge at the Freed Center extended beyond selecting presets for different event types. The physical orientation and technical behavior of the room also needed to change.
During an athletic event, the installed LED displays serve as scoreboards and the audio system supports the orientation and coverage required for competition. For chapel, worship, graduation, or presentation use, those same displays become presentation surfaces and the sound system must support a gathering-oriented configuration.
Different parts of the audio system may need to be activated or deactivated depending on whether the room is being used in an end-address or side-address orientation. Lighting states, display functions, input sources, and system routing must also change to match the event. Symetrix processing and control allow operators to make those changes through clearly defined controls rather than manually reconfiguring each subsystem.
“With the push of a button, the room can shift into the proper orientation,” Breda said. “The scoreboards become displays for a gathering, the appropriate parts of the audio system are activated, and the systems are placed into the correct mode for that event.”
The system includes a Symetrix Radius NX DSP with Dante connectivity, Symetrix touchscreens and wall-mounted controllers, and an xIO Bluetooth endpoint. Together, these components provide centralized access to the room’s audio behavior, source selection, system modes, and everyday functions.
The broader technology environment also includes an L-Acoustics A15 loudspeaker system with KS21 subwoofers, an Allen & Heath SQ-5 mixing console, Shure ULX-D wireless microphones, Shure PSM 300 in-ear monitoring, a Listen Technologies assistive listening system, an Absen NX 3.7 LED display and scoreboard solution, Ross Carbonite Ultra video production, ChamSys and Chauvet lighting technologies, and infrastructure from LynTec and Lowell.
Rather than requiring users to interact with each system independently, the Symetrix control layer brings essential functions together into an interface designed around what the operator needs to accomplish.
Making Sophisticated Systems Easy to Operate
Ease of use is a central part of Vantage Pro’s design philosophy, particularly because approximately 85 percent of the company’s work is completed for churches and ministry-oriented organizations where volunteers frequently operate sophisticated production systems. That experience carries directly into higher education.
A university venue may be managed by athletics staff for one event, a production team for another, and a campus employee leading an exercise class the following morning. Some operators may understand every part of the technical system, while others may simply need to connect a Bluetooth device and play music. Vantage Pro designs for both.
“We are obsessed with the person three steps removed from us, even though we most likely will never meet them,” Breda said. “It has to be obvious what they need to do to get the AV activated for their unique purposes. They should be able to connect their device and use the room without needing a separate training session.”
That requirement has become more pronounced in recent years. Where an organization may once have scheduled 30 or 45 minutes of training for a new operator, Vantage Pro now expects to have between five and 15 minutes – sometimes less. The control experience therefore has to communicate the correct next step immediately. It must also limit the chances an inexperienced user will make any errors.
Symetrix touchscreens provide different operators with the controls appropriate to their responsibilities. Advanced users can access the capabilities they need, while simplified interfaces allow occasional users and volunteers to perform routine tasks without navigating unnecessary technical detail.
The interfaces can also be refined after deployment. Vantage Pro remains in communication with its customers and can adjust labels, controls, layouts, or workflows based on how people actually use the system.
“An interface may make perfect sense during commissioning, but the real test comes when different groups begin using the room,” Breda said. “Symetrix gives us the flexibility to make adjustments and continue improving the experience after the system is installed.”
A Gathering Space Designed to Adapt
The Freed Center demonstrates how thoughtful AV and control design can transform a gymnasium into a true campus gathering space, with technology that simply fades into the background. The technology supports the energy and clarity required for athletics, the production needs of chapel and worship, the professionalism expected at donor events and graduations, and the simplicity required for everyday campus activities.
Behind each of those experiences is a coordinated technical system designed to place the room in the right configuration quickly and reliably, producing an experience that feels polished and professional every time.
“The Freed Center has been a huge blessing to the Vanguard University Athletic Department, and since its completion, it has become one of the leading venues in the Pacific West Conference,” said Justin Burtis, Event Manager and Sports Information Director at Vanguard University. “The capabilities built into the facility enhance the gameday experience for all of our student-athletes and spectators, but also give the university plenty of flexibility for hosting events during the school year and the summer. The ease of touch screens is beneficial for the different groups that use the facility and are located in spots that allow people quick access to the desired systems. The Symetrix features help bring the building to life.”
For Vantage Pro, that is the practical value of Symetrix processing and control. Sophisticated technology becomes easier to operate, working as a unified environment in a venue that can adapt without requiring every user to become a technical expert.
“Multi-use spaces are now the norm,” Breda concluded. “The design has to account for different users, different orientations, and different expectations. The goal is to make all of that complexity disappear so the customer can focus on the event. At the Freed Center, the technology supports the work without demanding attention from the people using it.”
For Vanguard, the setup brings confidence that the university is not simply receiving a completed installation, but a technology partner that understands the institution, its mission, and the many groups that rely on the facility.
About Vanguard University
Vanguard University is a private Christian university in Costa Mesa, California, dedicated to pursuing knowledge, cultivating character, deepening faith, and equipping students for lives of leadership and service. Founded in 1920, Vanguard offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs within a residential university environment.
About Vantage Pro
Vantage Pro is a nationwide audio, video, lighting, acoustics, and control design-build integrator serving churches, Christian schools, higher education institutions, and other gathering environments. Through its Foresight Design process, Vantage Pro works with owners, architects, builders, and stakeholders to create flexible, intuitive technical systems aligned with each organization’s mission and long-term goals.
About Symetrix
For 50 years, Symetrix has empowered AV professionals with high-performance signal processing, control, and monitoring solutions. Focused on exceptional audio quality, intuitive design tools, dependable system operation, and responsive customer support, Symetrix serves corporate, civic, education, healthcare, worship, and entertainment environments worldwide.
