EMPAC in February Architectural Record
A technical-based article on EMPAC and its acoustics in the February Issue of Architectural Record. Excerpt and link below…
“And the award for best sound effects goes to …”
Acoustics get a staring role in the design of a new performing arts center
February 2009
By Josephine Minutillo
Acoustic surface treatments and baffles may work to improve the quality of sound transmission in ordinary spaces, but to create world-class performance venues where the need for pristine acoustics is critical, every aspect of the design—from formal and spatial considerations to structural and mechanical needs—are closely examined by a team of architects, engineers, and acousticians. The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) contains four distinct performance and recording spaces, each requiring first-rate acoustics—a challenge for any single building to accommodate, but one made even more daunting given this building’s dramatic siting in a hillside.
Grimshaw Architects was charged with designing this complicated structure, their first performing arts building, after winning an invited competition in 2001. Partnering with Buro Happold Consulting Engineers and architect-of-record Davis Brody Bond Aedas, Grimshaw’s New York office had to roll with the punches as EMPAC’s program evolved into a 220,000-square-foot building that includes a 1,200-seat concert hall, a 400-seat theater with a full fly tower, two black-box studios for experimental media, artist-in-residence studios, a dance studio, audiovisual production suites, and support facilities. According to RPI president Shirley Ann Jackson, “EMPAC is an extraordinary venue where science, research, and performance meet.”
http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=5&C=483