Taconic Hills Central School, Performing Arts Center

This 950-seat proscenium theatre is more than meets the eye: the back wall of the stage house opens to an outdoor amphitheater on the other side. The amphitheatre shares the same stage and back of house support spaces as the main auditorium, and adds 300 to the seat count.

The space is also unusual in that it is not only a secondary school theatre, but also a true community arts center. One of the largest theatres in Columbia County, Taconic Central School’s Performing Arts Center provides the students and community with a wide range of arts and cultural programs, as well as the unique opportunity to generate revenue through community uses.

Project Details

Client: Taconic Hills Central High School
Architect: Rhinebeck Architecture & Planning
Completion Year: 1999
Location: Craryville, New York
Capacity: 950 seats

Links

Taconic Hills Central School | Official Website

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

(Public Spaces Visioning Study)

The “Bubble” is an inflatable event space planned for the cylindrical courtyard of the Hirshhorn Museum. In respectful dialogue with this Modernist icon originally designed by Gordon Bunshaft in 1974, the Bubble is an architecture of air: a pneumatic structure enclosed only by a thin translucent membrane that squeezes into the void of the building and oozes out the top and beneath its mass. In contrast to the familiar strategy of roofing over courtyards of institutional buildings, the Bubble produces a soft building inside of a hard one in which existing and new spaces, both interior and exterior are playfully intertwined. The ephemeral structure is erected once a year for two months. The additional 11,000 sf of sheltered space accommodates audiences of 500–800 for an array of public events including performing arts, film, lectures and debates. Its form is shaped by a series of cable rings that constrict the membrane, pulling it away from the inner wall of the courtyard while other cables tether it into place. The resulting contours act acoustically and produce changing shafts and pockets of outdoor space experienced from the ground and the galleries on the second and third levels.

Project Details

Architect: Diller Scofido + Renfro
Arch. of Record: Kling Stubbins
Acoustician: Jaffe Holden Acoustics
Completion Year: 2012
Location: Washington, Dist of Columbia
Building Size: 11,000 s.f.
Capacity: 800 seats

Links

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden | Official Website

Menlo Atherton High School Performing Arts Center

The Performing Arts Center was designed to create a gathering place for the Menlo Park and Atherton communities as well as Menlo Atherton High School students. The Center houses a 482-seat theatre with professional quality sound and lighting equipment, a 250-person capacity multi-use space that doubles as a student cafeteria, and facilities for the music program that include rehearsal rooms and ample storage space for sheet music and instruments.

Project Details

Client: Menlo Atherton High School
Architect: Hodgetts + Fung
Completion Year: 2009
Location: Menlo Park, California
Acoustician: Akustiks
Building Size: 24,000 s.f.
Capacity: 482 seats

University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music – Kodak Theater Renovation

University of Rochester
Eastman School of Music, Kodak Theater (Renovation)

Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre has undergone a stunning transformation, both in the patron experience and in its acoustic qualities.

While retaining its grand Italian Renaissance style, Kodak Hall features a new sound system as well as critical patron amenities. The addition of orchestra- and mezzanine-level boxes and a new back wall on the orchestra level returns more sound energy to support both the performers and the patrons seated in the orchestra level.

FDA was instrumental in reconfiguring the seating to address comfort and sightline issues in the room. Approximately 800 seats have been removed on the orchestra level and the walls carefully reshaped for concert-goers to feel more enveloped in the sound. The removal of back rows of seats not only creates a greater intimacy on the orchestra level, but also allows for the expansion of the hall’s inner lobby and the creation of five lounges, providing more comfortable gathering spaces. Kodak Hall also has new carpeting, a new heating and air conditioning system, and enhanced house and exit lighting.

Project Details

Client: University of Rochester
Architect: Chaintreuil Jensen Stark
Completion Year: 2010
Location: Rochester, New York
Acoustician: Akustiks
Capacity: 2,250 seats

Links

Eastman School of Music | Official Website

Related Projects

University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music – Eastman Theatre Orchestra Shell

University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music – Kodak Theater Renovation

University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music – Hatch Recital Hall

Hult Center for the Performing Arts | Soreng Theater

Hult Center for the Performing Arts
Soreng Theater

The Soreng Theater has a flexible proscenium that allows smaller companies a range of possibilities for experimental staging. FDA was instrumental in shaping the design of the hall, developing functional and attractive seating plans that break down the scale of the room, and create smaller, more intimate groups. Additionally we designed and specified state-of-the-art rigging and lighting equipment that could be carefully integrated into the theatre architecture.

Project Details

Client: City of Eugene
Architect: Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer
Completion Year: 1982
Location: Eugene, Oregon
Lighting: Fisher Marantz Stone & Partners
Acoustician: Jaffe Holden Acoustics
Building Size: 120,000 s.f.
Capacity: 500 seats

Links

Hult Center for the Performing Arts | Official Website

Related Projects

Hult Center for the Performing Arts | Soreng Theater

Hult Center for the Performing Arts | Silva Concert Hall

University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music – Hatch Recital Hall

University of Rochester

Eastman School of Music, Hatch Recital Hall

Designed as a showcase space that musicians will seek out for the opportunity to present solo recitals and chamber music concerts, the Hatch Recital Hall is the centerpiece of the new wing at the Eastman School of Music. The hall has revitalized the facilities at this long-respected institution.

The 222-seat hall features state-of-the-art performance lighting, excellent sightlines, and, above all, an intimate setting for solo performance. The new addition to the complex, which includes the newly-renovated Kodak Theatre, provides Eastman students and faculty with new performance and rehearsal spaces, studios, and a recording control room.

Project Details

Client: University of Rochester
Architect: Chaintreuil Jensen Stark
Completion Year: 2010
Location: Rochester, New York
Acoustician: Akustiks
Capacity: 220 seats

Links

Eastman School of Music | Official Website

Related Projects

University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music – Eastman Theatre Orchestra Shell

University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music – Kodak Theater Renovation

University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music – Hatch Recital Hall

Gwanggyo Lake Park Outdoor Amphitheater, Suwon

The City of Suwon built a park to house a new permanent outdoor amphitheatre for performances of classical and popular music, dance, and touring productions.

As theatre consultants to Korea-based Samoo Architects and Engineers, FDA designed and specified the demountable orchestra shell, located and specified permanent lighting positions, and created CAD-assisted sightline studies and seating plans to design ideal seating configurations that guaranteed views for all patrons.

The facility was a gift from the Samsung Corporation to the City of Suwon.

Project Details

Client: City of Suwon, Korea
Architect: Samoo Architects and Engineers
Completion Year: 1997
Location: Suwon, Korea
Acoustician: Jaffe Holden Acoustics
Capacity: 10,000 seats

Links

Gwanggyo Lake Park | Official Website

Venetian Resort Las Vegas, The Venetian Theatre

Venetian Resort Las Vegas
The Venetian Theatre

This 1800-seat theatre was designed specifically to house a special production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera.

As described by USA TODAY, “Rebranded Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular- will occur in an 1,800-seat playhouse designed to look like the 19th-century Opera Garnier in Paris. Because the narrative starts in a ruined opera house, the audience first sees the chandelier askew and huge canvas draping the walls. When the tale flashes back, the canvas flies off, and the chandelier pieces assemble and light up in an 80-foot-wide dome.” – Steve Friess

Working closely with the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, and Live Nation (Clear Channel’s theatrical productions offshoot) FDA and the Rockwell Group created an 1800 seat horseshoe “opera house” on a minimal site between the existing Venetian Casino and the Venezia Tower. While the public will be awed by the opulent “set”, equal attention was given to the back of house layouts. Since this space was specially built for this show, it will run ten times a week (requiring multiple casts and other special accommodations for this perennially popular production).

Project Details

Client: Venetian Resort Hotel Casino
Architect: The Rockwell Group
Arch. of Record: Leo Daly
Completion Year: 2006
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Acoustician: PMK
Capacity: 1,800 seats

Henderson-Hopkins School

The Elmer A. Henderson: A Johns Hopkins Partnership School and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Early Childhood Center, together called Henderson-Hopkins, is the first new Baltimore public school built in more than 20 years. Envisioned to catalyze the revitalization of East Baltimore, the project integrates innovative educational facilities with community and recreational resources and reflects the neighborhood’s urban fabric.

Good public schools are critical institutions in supporting and developing successful communities. Conceived as a community hub housing both an innovative early childcare center and school and shared community and recreational resources, the Henderson-Hopkins school was borne out of a need to support the underserved existing community, and to act as a magnet for new development. The overall campus will serve as a community hub for family engagement, citizenship, and wellness.

For community use, the auditorium lobby is accessed through double doors adjacent to the school’s main entrance, and can also be entered from within the school. Folding seating on telescopic risers accommodates an audience of 304; acoustical finishes throughout cater to both musical and dramatic performance requirements; and backstage storage and multipurpose spaces allow for flexibility of use.

Project Details

Client: Johns Hopkins School of Education
Architect: Rogers Partners
Lighting: Flux Studio
Acoustician: Spexsys, LLC
Completion Year: 2014
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Building Size: 4,800 s.f.
Capacity: 304 seats

Links

Johns Hopkins Partnership Schools | Official Website

Royal Caribbean International — Oasis of the Seas, Opal Theatre

Royal Caribbean International

Oasis of the Seas, Opal Theatre

The Opal Theater, Oasis of the Seas’ state-of-the-art 1,380-seat main theater, features a thrust stage and proscenium extending into the audience space to create a more intimate and interactive environment. Entertainers will make their entrances from unexpected locations around the venue and perform aerial acrobatics enveloping audience members in an experience which unfolds around and above them.

When she launched 2009, Oasis of the Seas was the largest and most revolutionary cruise ship in the world. An architectural marvel at sea, she will span 16 decks, encompass 220,000 GRT, carry 5,400 guests, and feature 2,700 staterooms.

Project Details