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Beautiful Music continued

Sound Construction

When the groundbreaking for the building took place on April 11, 2001, it was the culmination of years of discussion about how a facility of this stature might be built. Perhaps it was the extended planning period that made the construction process a relatively predictable undertaking.

Gayley recalls, “It was a very typical construction process for a building of this type and complexity. The only thing that was slightly different was it was broken into two packages—namely a foundation and site package and then the building. And that was due to the very steep slope [of the site]. It was determined advantageous to get the foundation and the site retention aspects done quickly and ahead of the other phase.”

However, it wasn’t all business as usual, since the concert hall required ideal acoustics. This was a prime factor in the design and construction, which led to special considerations throughout the structure.

Gayley says, “The acoustic imperative for the hall was very high. The challenge was nothing short of a world-class facility, and in hiring the team that designed Ozawa Hall [the concert hall designed for the Boston Symphony Orchestra by William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.], the owner made clear it wanted a comparable facility. Our office, along with Kirkegaard Associates, an acoustician located in Chicago, IL, and Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc. in South Norwalk, CT, made up the core design team that shaped the hall, its volumes, and the materials that defined it.

“Tolerances needed to be quite precise,” he continues. “The basic hall is a cast-in-place concrete structure—the mass of which was an integral part of the acoustic volume of the space. The reverberation and the base sounds need to be contained within the space by massive walls; if the walls are not thick enough and not constructed right, the sound leaks out. The walls, as well as the roof, which is also concrete, were a very important first step.”

While the structure itself was integral to the quality of the performance experience, so were the building systems installed into the structure. “For the construction trades, the acoustical and mechanical systems were very exacting,” Grabowski explains.

“Mechanically, items that would be one size in any other building are easily triple the size in a concert hall,” says Gayley. “The air sound needs to be cut down entirely and needs to move very slowly, which means the volume has to be much bigger in order to deliver a certain amount of air to the space. Ductwork has to be oversized radically. Coordination of the ductwork from the mechanical space in the basement, up through the structure, and up into the hall takes a lot of coordination.

“Getting from point A to point B within a given space with other trades present, in addition to structural beams and other objects, was quite a challenge,” continues Gayley.

In addition to this coordination, the equipment itself required special attention. “The registers need to be installed in a way that they don’t rattle,” cites Gayley as an example.

Grabowski adds, “In dealing with the mechanical systems overall, there’s a tremendous amount of isolation. Anything that could create vibration or sympathetic low end energy [is addressed]. Everything is on shock mounts. Even ducts stop; there’s a piece of rubber so no vibration can transmit, then the duct picks up again. Every penetration was packed and sealed where sound couldn’t go through a wall where conduit or pipe was going.

“The actual equipment is pretty standard,” notes Grabowski. “Granted, the equipment is sitting on resilient springs and neoprene pads, but there’s nothing extraordinary about the particular equipment.”

The HVAC system, along with lighting and fire/life safety systems, is monitored by an extensive building automation system (BAS). “We have a Siemens building automation system, which makes the day to day operations almost seamless for us,” says Grabowski. “It watches a lot of things a human being would constantly have to be running around the building to check. In the concert hall, we have 12 temperature sensors in addition to humidity sensors and carbon dioxide sensors. These are constantly monitoring the space with the variable speed drives which supply the air—constantly adjusting temperature as well as air flow to meet the requirements of the patron but also to keep the concert hall within its design curriculum of noise floor, [an acoustician term determining how quiet the hall is with everything running, but without people in it].”

The BAS monitors 600 points in the building—everything from pumps to pressures to water flow.

“The HVAC system takes advantage of all modern energy saving capabilities using what’s commonly called heat recovery, or heat wheels,” he continues. “It also provides energy capabilities in reference to load shedding. There’s a not a tremendous amount that can be load shed in a performing concert hall. Normally, the peak use of electricity is at the start of intermission when the house lights go up. With a full house, there’s not much to load shed. But, we let the system do what it can within the parameters that we allow it.

“The BAS also controls all the architectural lighting of the building—all of the exterior lights and the corridor lights are tied into the system. That occurs based on time of day or whether the photocell on the roof says it’s dark.”

There is a state-of-the-art fire/life safety system in the facility. In addition to the standard features, Grabowski points out: “The system allows us to determine whether a sensor is getting dirty as opposed to an actual alarm condition. The last thing we want to do is evacuate the house needlessly because a fire sensor is dirty and malfunctions.”

With so many organizations under one roof, as well as the numerous patrons that frequent the facility, the security system also demands some special attention. “For a venue operation, the number one problem we have is keeping the audience and performers separated,” Grabowski explains. “Patrons have a way of finding whatever door is left unlocked to get backstage. We use a card key access system for controlling the entire building—not only exterior doors, but also access to the backstage spaces as well as to the office spaces. Almost all the non-public spaces have card key control.

“Our primary resident partners have cards issued to them and the system allows us, with one keystroke, to activate or deactivate all the cards for a particular organization. Our security office takes care of this aspect.”

A Symphony Of Efforts

While the Music Center is designed to whisk patrons to a relaxing performance experience, its close proximity to Rockville Pike and mass transit via the area’s Metro rail system serve the facility well. The mass transit aspect is another example of how the public-private partnership helped the development of the Music Center. Connected to the facility by an enclosed walkway over the street, a parking garage built by Montgomery County provides complimentary parking for patrons.

“It was a win-win situation for us,” Grabowski says. “At the time, Montgomery County was planning to build a garage for the Metro across the street. So we didn’t have to take up lawn space for parking. Metro needs parking in the daytime; we need it evenings and weekends. The County moved the garage closer to our facility and added the pedestrian skybridge.”

In commenting on the overall project, Grabowski says, “I’ve been managing buildings for 30-some years and what makes this one very special is the fact that everyone came together, as well as the passion behind the project. We had professionals, volunteers, corporate donors, private donors, staff, and other members of the community. We have seven arts organizations under one roof; now that’s rare. The capability of intertwining for synergy and for playing off each other’s strengths was very uncommon. This is pie in the sky stuff. This is good.”

Gayley echoes this sentiment, saying, “Implicit in all of this was how the owner and all of the consultants involved during this many year process had a very close working relationship. There are many people we haven’t mentioned who were absolutely integral to the project. The process was very team oriented and very focused on making it happen. The Strathmore Concert Hall Steering Committee, which included the BSO, was very involved. It was a very powerful process, and I think it played a very significant role in getting the building to where it was and getting it to be as good as it ended up being.”

As the Music Center approaches its first anniversary, it’s clear that long-term planning and teamwork contributed to the facility’s success. If the performers in the building follow suit, this entertainment site should be around for years to come.

This article was based on interviews with Gayley (info@rawnarch.com) and Grabowski (mgrabowski@strathmore.org).

To share your entertainment facility story, send an e-mail avazquez@groupc.com. Past Showcases are available online at www.Todays FacilityManager.com.

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