Few higher education buildings have the same intricate design goals as performing arts facilities. As centers of artistic expression, higher education performing arts centers must reflect a flair for drama and creativity, yet must also weave complex mechanical, electrical and structural systems into the design. These design goals often create both opportunities and challenges for the architectural team.

The 163,000-square-foot Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC), now under construction at California State University at Northridge (CSUN), is no exception. The university wanted the VPAC to serve as a memorable architectural and cultural landmark for the entire San Fernando Valley, yet also wanted it be cost effective and energy efficient. At the same time, the facility must provide a superior acoustical environment for the audience. While these requirements seemingly conflict with each other, the design team accepted these challenges, utilizing architectural and engineering expertise, systems analysis and careful coordination to provide the university with the arts venue they seek.

As centers of artistic expression, higher education performing arts centers must reflect a flair for drama and creativity, yet must also weave complex mechanical, electrical and structural systems into the design.

Setting the Stage
The dramatic architecture sets the stage for the Valley Performing Arts Center to serve as the San Fernando Valley’s signature cultural arts building. The design features a 55-foot glass lobby wall that visually opens the interior to the campus. Stone, tile and glass embrace the lobby as a staircase sweeps upward three levels to the upper balcony and a rooftop terrace. Sinuous wood ribbons radiate from the stage, wrapping the balconies and walls in warm hues. The facility even projects a public face in all directions, with no official “back side.” Loading docks and service functions hide behind moveable screen walls that complement the architecture.

As the centerpiece of the Valley Performing Arts Center, the 1,700- eat concert hall has also been designed to support the diverse requirements of all types of music and student productions— orchestra, opera, theatre, Broadway, dance, film and lectures. The center includes a 250-seat studio theatre, two large rehearsal rooms, academic and professional production support spaces, theatre studio-classrooms, lecture halls, offices and facilities for the campus’ public radio station, KCSN 88.5 FM.

Cost Solutions
The volumetric demands of acoustics, large scenery, balconies and sightlines in a facility like the Valley Performing Arts Center often result in varying floor levels, ceiling heights and floor/ceiling assemblies. These complexities are usually accommodated through greater floor-to-floor heights, more square footage and a larger building envelope. The university budget, however, could not absorb increased building size as a solution. Instead, the architects and  engineers conducted interdisciplinary worksessions to fine tune the routing and locations of ductwork, cabling, conduit, sprinkler pipes, lighting, theatrical equipment, columns and beams and thick acoustical assemblies. This type of coordination also occurred between the contractor and subcontractors. For the architects, it involved accepting some tight interstitial conditions in order to allow dollars to be spent on visible program spaces, materials and amenities.

This balance can be seen in the design of the VPAC’s flexible concert hall, which features a professional stage-house with full fly-tower and rigging, space at the back of the stage for orchestra shell tower storage, a hydraulic stage extension/ pit lift and generous backstage maneuvering space. Acoustical flexibility has been implemented into the hall, allowing for tuning to create the acoustic properties required for any particular performance. This tuning is achieved through use of variable banners, panels and draperies that augment both unamplified and amplified sound.

Capturing the Energy Efficiently
Sustainable materials and methods are now integral to the design process of many performing arts facilities. Resource efficiency, material choices, building orientation, natural lighting, ventilation and efficient mechanical systems all play a role in a building’s long-term environmental impact. For the VPAC, the university and the design team agreed to use the best practices and pursue sustainable options wherever prudent to do so. This has resulted in a design equivalent to meeting LEED® Silver Certification.

The university’s choice to purse sustainability greatly impacted the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The energy needs for the performance hall and lobby swing wildly due to the heat generated by an audience, performers and theatrical lighting loads, as well as the airflow through numerous large open or closed doorways. Because of the acoustical properties of performance spaces, HVAC systems must be silent, requiring ductwork to be larger than normal. Other requirements include provisions for humidification and compressed air. Humidification is required to protect pianos, string instruments and wood floor assemblies, while compressed air is required for the scenery shop. These variables greatly influenced the design solution at CSUN.

The university has several energy efficient, campus-wide systems that were used in the design of the VPAC. All cooling and dehumidification for the project will come from four chillers at two separate satellite plants on campus. Water is supplied to a large thermal storage tank, which is recharged at night when the campus gets a substantial break in cost. To further reduce energy use and operating costs, the campus uses a high supply-return chilled water temperature differential (25-30° F) to minimize the water volume flow rate through campus, which saves pipe material and transport energy.

The campus’ central hot water utility was recently upgraded with the installation of two hydrogen fuel cells, which provide clean electricity to the campus grid. A byproduct of operating fuel cells is a substantial amount of heat. This heat being recovered provides the full heating and domestic hot water load for the new VPAC.

When the curtain finally opens on the Valley Performing Arts
Center in early 2010, it will serve as a cultural landmark that
raises the design bar for performing arts facilities.

In further leveraging this sustainable design strategy, both the chilled and hot water use in the building will be tracked and billed separately for campus users and outside performance groups. To accomplish this, a network of six thermal energy meters will be installed in each system. The campus facilities staff will monitor how much, where and when energy is being used. This level of monitoring is expected to have a payback period of less than five years, as facilities staff can trend performances and optimize the operation of the building systems.

Looking at alternatives for systems within the building also led to some efficient solutions. In the early conceptual phase, a “displacement ventilation” system was selected for the main hall. Displacement ventilation for the supply of conditioned air and ventilation of buildings has just recently been considered for buildings in the U.S. The system uses the natural buoyancy of warm air to provide ventilation and comfort with air supplied from floor mounted registers under audience seats. This system is typically more energy efficient and quieter than conventional overhead systems, providing higher ventilation efficiency, improved indoor air quality and localized control of temperature. By taking advantage of the substantial slope of the seating and the depth of the orchestra pit foundation system, the design utilizes concrete tunnels to deliver  supply air to the floor outlets.

Curtain Call
When the curtain finally opens on the Valley Performing Arts Center in early 2010, it will serve as a cultural landmark that raises the design bar for performing arts facilities. By successfully blending creative design and state-of-the-art technology with engineering innovation, the design team has balanced three seemingly contradictory goals: staying within the university’s budget, setting a new standard for energy-efficiency and ensuring acoustical quality in the building. Of course, the ultimate goal for any performing arts center is to ‘perform’—and that is exactly what the Valley Performing Arts Center is intended to do.

Jamie L. Milne Rojek, AIA, is an architect who specializes in the design and planning of visual and performing arts facilities for higher education, and serves as vice president for the HGA Architects and Engineers office in Minneapolis. HGA is a full-service architecture, engineering and planning firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif.; Minneapolis and Rochester, Minn.; and Milwaukee, Wisc. For more information, please visit www.hga.com.

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