September 10th, 2020
Harkness Screens release Whitepaper on the optimization of educational facilities and keeping them Covid secure
ROANOKE, VIRGINIA 09/10/2020 – 90 year old cinema screen manufacturer Harkness Screens release Whitepaper outlining how schools and other educational facilities can optimize their spaces to allow for social distancing measures.
Harkness has been a pioneer in the cinema screen industry for much of its history. In the 1940s, it was Tom Harkness who identified PVC as a durable and more readily available material for projection, moving the entire industry from more traditional fabric screens.
The modern day Harkness has carried on this pioneering ideology, with facilities on nearly every continent. In recent years, the company has moved from solvent based screen coatings to water based ones, in order to reduce the impact on the environment.
Furthermore, company-wide Harkness has been able to reduce their emission of volatile organic compounds by 98% as part of their efforts to be a greener contributor to society.
With 65% of all screens globally produced by Harkness Screens and 48 billion people having gone to the cinema in 2019, that means that 31.2 billion of all people watched a movie on a Harkness screen.
Harkness have screens and technology installed at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and with major US cinema exhibitors including Cinemark, AMC, Regal and Dolby. At one stage too, Harkness’ expertise with PVC as a material saw them manufacture what was, at the time, the world’s biggest cinema screen that was exhibited at Sydney Harbour, Australia.
At the onset of Covid-19, Harkness’ Research & Development team developed and nurtured the idea of creating PVC barriers that could reduce the possibility of infection, whilst also optimizing the use of indoor and outdoor spaces.
As with all of Harkness’ screens, these floating shields highly adhere to all health and safety regulations, as well as local and national fire protocols.
Harkness have trialled the use of their barrier screens at schools, offices, polling places, courtrooms and communal facilities such as bowling alleys and in Government buildings.
“I applauded my colleagues in Harkness for pivoting during this Covid crisis to create sneeze guard barriers while our normal business of cinema technology had come to a near halt with the temporary closure of movie-theatres,” Anthony Kelly, EVP Americas Harkness Screens, said.
“In addition to meaning more of our team could remain working, it also has meant we can provide a flexible light-weight barrier option to add to the much-seen acrylic sheets being used to protect people in social environments. Now I commend the team even more for taking the extra steps to research how barriers can be most effectively deployed to optimize the use of available space, based on the global study undertaken.”
“This Whitepaper brings together all of our findings to-date and puts them into a practical setting such as a school,” Nicolas Chiovini, Associate Director – Cinema Technology and author of the Whitepaper, said. “Our findings are extremely informative, and we believe can further help people prepare best for this new world we find ourselves in. We will continue the research to identify and share best practices and ideas globally for barriers designs and how they can be used most effectively.”
To view the Whitepaper, click here and type in the password: HarknessProtectWP20
Harkness Screens
Harkness Screens™ is the world’s leading screen technology company, specialising in the design and manufacture of projection screens and supporting technologies for cinema and live events. From single-screen independent theatres to large multiplexes to large format immersive theatre experiences or live events, Harkness supplies thousands of screens every year helping provide outstanding presentation experiences to audiences around the world.
With global reach, Harkness is regarded as the world leader in cinema and has screens in more cinemas worldwide than any other manufacturer. With its industry leading 2D and 3D screen brands (Perlux HiWhite, Clarus XC and Spectral) along with an innovative range of presentation monitoring tools, digital surveying services and suite of cinema design and specification apps, Harkness continues to lead the way in screen technology for cinema.
Founded in 1929, Harkness has manufacturing facilities in the USA, UK, France, India and China and combines unrivalled experience with the latest technology and production methods to provide innovative solutions to the company’s key markets. For more information, visit the Harkness Screens web page at www.harkness-screens.com.
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