When the Performing Arts Center opened its doors, the first people to praise the building were the ones who know it best. The owner, the design team and the region's arts community each recognized the construction behind the new 1,800-seat concert hall, and the craft our teams brought to it.
Silence, built in
The hall sits close to the river, with barges, trains and traffic outside its walls. The design answered that with a box-in-box structure: an inner concert room carried on isolation bearings, separated from the outer building by a continuous acoustic gap. That gap only works if nothing bridges it. A single stray fastener, conduit or grout spill can carry sound straight into the room.
Delivered under a CM at-risk contract, the project gave us a seat at the table early. We worked with the acousticians and structural engineers to sequence the isolation work, detailed every penetration through the gap and inspected each one before it was closed in. Mechanical systems were designed and installed for low air velocity and quiet operation, with duct runs and pipe supports isolated from the structure.
Most of the best work on this building is work you will never see. It is the gap that stayed clean and the joint that was sealed right the first time.
Project superintendent, MarkWester
Craft and schedule, together
Inside the hall, the finishes had to perform as instruments. Wood wall and ceiling surfaces were shaped and installed to tight tolerances, and our teams built full-size mockups so the design team could hear and see the work before production began. Seating, stage rigging and theatrical systems were coordinated in the model and in the field so that each trade could hand clean work to the next.
The schedule mattered as much as the craft. The opening season was announced before the roof was on, and the team held that date through careful phasing, early release of long-lead equipment and close coordination with the owner's commissioning and tuning sessions.
We are grateful to the owner and the design team for their trust, and to every trade partner and craft professional who built this hall. The recognition belongs to them. The best review, though, is the one the audience gives every night the room goes quiet and the music starts.
