EMPAC

EMPAC in Troy, New York by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, 2004

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) is a $142 million, 203,000 s.f. project on the edge of the school's main campus overlooking Troy, New York. EMPAC's goal is to "enable artists, engineers and scientists to meet in a way that they respectfully challenge and change one another, while building on the distinct characters of their disciplines," according to director Johannes Goebel. Designed by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners (with local architect David Brody Bond), the unique program posed many challenges, including the combination of traditional and experimental performing art spaces, dealing with the dramatic slope of the site, and the acoustic quality and flexibility of the performance spaces.

Much of the traditional/experimental problem is dealt with via the program: a 1,200-seat concert hall, a 400-seat theater, two studios (3,500 s.f. and 2,500 s.f.) - as well as artist-in-residence suites, rehearsal and support spaces - help to demarcate the range and flexibility of performance spaces. Taking these requirements as a starting point, the architect created a sequence from the entrance on the north (concert hall) to the south (studios and theater), each contained within a unified mass that also keeps each space distinct. From the outside this mass gives the project its primary image, the hull-like, wood-clad object visible behind the large, transparent exterior wall, similar to Richard Rogers's Bordeaux Law Courts.

Dealing with the slope of the site came naturally from the location of the program spaces and the desire to bury these large volumes into the slope to bring down the mass of the design. For example in the image at left, the 70-foot fly space of the theater is concealed within the rectangular mass to the right of the protruding "hull". Also, by following the slope of the site, the entrance is limited to one-story in height, creating expectation as one traverses the atrium and in-between spaces towards the views of Troy and the Hudson River at the building's end.

Lastly, due to the presence of up to 24 spaces in the building that can be used simultaneously (in addition to the program spaces, the public spaces are all designed for performances), acoustical concerns were very high. Acoustical consultant Kirkegaard Associates of Chicago used independent foundations, resilient isolation, and the natural topography of the site to provide as much acoustic isolation as possible. As well, the concert hall will have suspended fabric panels less than 1mm thick that will reflect high-frequency sound but allow mid- and low-frequency sound to penetrate and add to the reverberation of the hall.
 
(Thanks to Jim K. for the heads up on this week's dose.)