Chris Lascelle: Redefining AV Innovation Across Government and Global Corporations

As an AV Design Engineer, Chris Lascelle has faced both institutional overhauls and personal upheavals. However, he has emerged as an accomplished technician and a resilient designer whose greatest innovations come not from hardware, but from clarity, empathy, and foresight.

His expertise earned international recognition when the White House honored him with a certificate of appreciation for his technical support during a historic U.S. presidential address to the Canadian Parliament, a rare acknowledgment that highlights the global reach of his work.

Chris’ pivotal role in transforming Canada’s parliamentary broadcast infrastructure offers a lens into the kind of design thinking which transcends technical boundaries. The Wellington Building rehabilitation in Ottawa, a historic Beaux-Arts structure, was both restored and reengineered into a modern broadcast hub.

With a broader parliamentary renovation budget measured in the billions, Chris spearheaded AV systems which seamlessly bridged centuries-old architecture with a modern standard of legislative broadcasting. This demanded solutions that would function flawlessly under scrutiny, without overshadowing the human purpose behind them.

As a strategist and engineering lead, Chris played a significant role in the relocation of all parliamentary functions, including the House of Commons, to temporary spaces such as the West Block, preserving operational continuity amid shifts in venue and logistics.

Chris explains how the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic pressed reality into his designs. He conceptualized a hybrid parliamentary system that incorporated remote language interpretation and integration over the internet.
Across the globe, nearly one third of legislative bodies pivoted to fully virtual plenary sessions, while two thirds adopted hybrid committee meetings. Yet, these rapid transformations revealed systemic gaps - inequitable access, interpreter strain, digital fatigue - underscoring that human-centric engineering requires more than quick fixes.

Chris’ portfolio is not confined to politics. From designing cutting-edge auditoriums for leading corporations to building immersive environments for underground music festivals, he has consistently redefined what AV systems can achieve.

At Google, he led the development of one of the first fully cloud-based live event production systems during the pandemic, keeping remote global events alive when physical venues went dark. He also helped engineer auditoriums for Google’s offices in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and beyond.

Rising above challenges

Behind these successes lies a period of profound personal challenge. Just as he prepared to relocate to California, the pandemic struck. His family listed their home, emptied their furniture, and packed for a new life, only to find themselves stranded in a silent, empty house.

Imposter syndrome led him to rely on design documents to speak for him, while his solace came from early-morning skateboarding sessions and the grounding presence of family. That chapter taught him the power of creating clarity amidst chaos, leaning on routine and resilience to find footing in uncharted terrain.

From these layered experiences Chris distilled his core design philosophy. He reframes engineering as exceptional customer service; one measured not by immediate results but by enduring client trust. He speaks of preventing regret long before it arrives, of listening deeply for needs that clients cannot yet name, and of embracing the uncomfortable yet necessary conversations about cost, value, and long-term sustainability. He insists that design excellence emerges not from ego or technical bravado, but from humility, insight, and readiness to serve.

His artistic sensibilities, rooted in music, painting, skateboarding, shape his approach. A well-designed AV system isn’t just a bunch of equipment and wires. It is a platform for sharing information and stories. Like a moving composition, it carries rhythm and simplicity while embodying complexity beneath the surface.

Rich lessons on success

Chris’s journey offers rich lessons. In moments of institutional transformation or market disruption, what matters most is how you ground design decisions with empathy, clarity, and strategic balance. He demonstrates that technology achieves meaningful impact when it fades from view and foregrounds human connection.

Looking forward, Chris envisions leading modular, scalable systems for high-profile global events and other prestigious summits and conferences. He hopes to design these with timeless elegance and thoughtful foresight. More than chasing technological novelty, his ambition is to raise the bar for industry-wide design standards and to provide solutions which are technologically advanced yet intuitively human.