The LAN Center

The state-of-the-art LAN Center will provide gaming stations, a retail space and spectator seating for esports events in the community.

July 16, 2020

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The Soniqs Esports Professional Organization and Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, 19 S. Third Street, Harrisburg, PA

The state-of-the-art LAN Center will provide gaming stations, a retail space and spectator seating for esports events in the community. The Soniqs, Harrisburg-based professional Esports team, owns and will be manage the center in addition to utilizing it for their teams practices, events, and new-player recruitment. Harrisburg University partnered with the Soniqs on this project as their varsity Esports team, The Storm, in addition to their clubs and other groups will benefit greatly from the esports facility.

The goal for the project was to create a place for anyone to participate in gaming and esports activities. The center is a learning facility, with workshops and other events available to the public. The community will be able to participate in tournaments, casual play, and view games as spectators. Esports professionals will also teach workshops and other educational programs. There will also be opportunities throughout the year where the public can come in and play plus the center can also be rented out.

The design was a challenge, as a long and narrow early-midcentury storefront space was adaptively reused while the façade was maintained to reinforce the historic city block vernacular. The 2,000 gsf space had to be dynamic as the tables, monitors and chairs are located along the central spine of the center. Unique flooring design in addition to lighting and acoustical pods are among many design elements that create an energetic unique gaming and spectator experience. Blue and purple LED lighting were utilized as they represent the Soniqs brand colors.

The center features 20 Intel NUC PC’s built with 12th Gen Intel(RR) Core(TM) i9-12900 CPU’s, 16GB of RAM, and RTX 3060 TI’s. These PCs will provide the local community with some of the best available for a high-end gaming experiences and learning tools. ViewSonic’s 27-inch 1080p 240Hz IPS gaming monitors were installed that provide high refresh rates required for esports gaming. The spectator viewing area is supported with an 86-inch ViewSonic gaming display monitor.

Harrisburg University will also utilize the Center for classes in video editing, 3D design, production, broadcasting, podcasting, and Live Event Management. All of these activities will support the University’s Esports and Sport Management/Sport Studies programs.

This is the second esports center that Murray Associates Architects designed for Harrisburg University. In 2018, a 6000 gsf Training Arena, inspired by a skate park, opened to support the university’s varsity epsorts team, The Storm.