Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute opens £135m experimental media facility

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s (RPI’s) cutting-edge Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) opened its doors last month in upstate New York, offering the university a brand new 1,200-seat concert hall, a 400-seat theatre with a full fly tower (for theatrical flying), two adaptive environment studios, an audio and video production suite, artists-in-residence studios, and a dance studio.

The brainchild of Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson and EMPAC director Johannes Goebel, the university’s 220,000-square-foot laboratory occupies a steep hillside on the campus in Troy, N.Y., across the river from Albany. It will allow unprecedented investigation into the overlapping realms of the arts, science, and technology.

A study in contrasts

Designed by Grimshaw architects, the vision for EMPAC was a study in contrasts. “We wanted a building which conveyed both a sense of permanence, in its world-class orchestral hall, as well as a completely flexible space which allowed the experimental nature of the university and the inherent exploration of the creative process to flourish,” said Andrew Whalley, managing partner of Grimshaw’s New York office.

The interior of the concert hall assumes a shoebox form, optimized for romantic-era symphonic music but with adaptive acoustics to accommodate jazz, amplified music, films, and spoken-word events. Grimshaw, with Kirkegaard Associates (acoustics/audiovisual), developed an architectural form for the room which is acoustically diffusive, while maintaining an open and soaring environment. This was achieved by room-shaping techniques and the targeted adoption of new material technologies, including a considerable application of partially reflective acoustic fabric for the ceiling.

To execute the building, international multi-disciplinary engineering practice Buro Happold provided structural, mechanical, electrical, sustainability/LEED and computer simulation consultancy. The design team worked in close collaboration with Kirkegaard, and with theatre design experts Fisher Dachs Associates.

Buro Happold ensured that each key structural element performs a multiple function

Buro Happold resolved the difficulties presented by the sloping site by designing a complex structural system in which each of the key structural elements performs multiple functions.

Craig Schwitter, Buro Happold’s project director, explained: “The curved concrete hall provides optimal acoustics and supports the north wing of the building.  Large steel trusses that span the hall hold up the roof and define the shape of its double-curved surface. Therefore the concert hall is wrapped inside a ‘hull’ of curved cedar planks, which hovers inside a glass exterior enclosure. This hull then conceals the extensive mechanical ducts and serves as a structural component which supports the roof, leaving the atrium visually open and column-free.”

Meanwhile, the presence of soft clays and very deep bedrock called for a complicated series of iterative design studies that factored building distribution and massing on the hillside with different retaining structure configurations. Approximately 50 percent of the large building is entirely below grade. Because each element of the building is separate, the performing arts venues had differing drift characteristics. All movements were carefully coordinated with up to 4-inch joints in many areas.

EMPAC seeking LEED ‘Silver’ rating

Sustainability was a major issue for Rensselaer, and Buro Happold’s team is aiming for 30 percent water reduction compared to similar traditional fixtures. The building features a CFC-free central utility plant and a 20,000-cubic-foot underground detention tank. The HVAC systems are fitted with variable speed dials, and the ventilation systems have demand control to regulate air volume depending on condition, as well as individual controls for light and air. Suppliers in Upstate New York provided 20% of the materials for the building, and 75% of construction waste was recycled. The design team is submitting the project for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and seeking a Silver rating.

Meanwhile, the mechanical systems of the building balance a number of competing demands. “We sought to achieve a high level of acoustics, save energy, and also provide good air quality and comfort,” said Denzil Gallagher, Buro Happold’s director in charge of building services engineering.

Noise control was crucial, and to this end, displacement ventilation systems optimise acoustics and lessen noise transmission. The studios and theatre are all also constructed with an interior concrete shear wall system which is physically separated from an exterior envelope of independently laterally braced steel frames, so each of the performance venues is a “building within a building”: an acoustically isolated unit with a lobby, offices, artist-in-residence studios, and mechanical support spaces that are wrapped inside a separate steel-framed structure.

“EMPAC is an unprecedented platform for creativity and discovery, a world-class performing arts centre and a high-tech research facility under one roof,” said RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson.

Project team:
Client: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Architect: Grimshaw
Architect of Record: Davis Brody Bond Aedas
Buro Happold services: structural and building services engineering; sustainability/LEED consultancy and computer modelling services. (LEED consultancy in association with Turner Construction and electrical engineering in association with Laszlo Bodak.)
Acoustics: Kirkegaard Associates
Theatre design: Fisher Dachs Associates
Main contractor: Turner Construction

Ends

Note to Editors:

Buro Happold
Press office and practice information at www.burohappold.com
Images are available on request.
For more information, please contact:

Jenni O’Connor
PR Officer
Tel                   +44 (0)1225 320600 ext. 2937
Fax                  +44 (0)8707 874148
Email              jenni.o’connor@burohappold.com

Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976. We now employ over 1,700 staff in 21 offices worldwide, and our aim is to produce high quality engineering design in concept, in detail and in execution, on time, to programme and delivering excellent value for money. Our distinctive culture and ethos is still based on the same principles of care, value and elegance that were established when the practice was founded.

We offer structural, building services, civil, infrastructure and façade engineering, as well as a broad range of specialist consultancy services including sustainability, ground and environmental engineering, fire and security design, health and safety management, inclusive and urban design, project management, and specialist CAD and computer simulation provision.