Performing Arts

PERFORMING ARTS

Designing Places For The Performing Arts

“The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of the nation, is very close to the center of a nation’s purpose - and is a test of the quality of a nation’s civilization.”

— John F. Kennedy The performing arts enrich communities by catalyzing education, launching local talent, promoting civil discourse, expanding vision, and stimulating economic development. Tapping this power in changing times requires dynamic architecture.

Strategic siting and sensitive integration into communities helps facilities reach audiences.

Strong sense of place inspires powerful performances and engages audiences.

Flexibility enables diverse programs and allows for future change.

State-of-the-art media encourage innovation and cross-discipline collaboration.

Facilities with these characteristics foster innovative performances and performance innovation. We have applied these principles in stand-alone venues, educational spaces, and other buildings types Guest performers at Greenwich Academy’s Wallace Performing Arts Center (above); Conservatory of Music symphonic performance in Lynn University’s Wold Performing Arts Center (left)

that host performances. For new facilities and reimagined existing structures, they help us shape environments that incubate the arts and nurture the communities they serve.

This booklet illustrates how these principles have helped us position today’s performing arts to expand and enrich the life of a variety of communities over a range of different settings and scales.

Wallace Performing Arts Center Greenwich Academy Greenwich, Connecticut

This teaching center’s low profile reduces residential-neighborhood impact of it’s 400seat proscenium theater, 100-seat flexible theater, studios, practice rooms, classrooms, and galleries for music, dance, drama, and visual arts. The intimate, multi-use theater at its heart evokes a town square at night as metaphoric commons. A corner music room (above) echoes the porch of the first campus building beyond.

Low rake angles avoid intimidating young performers. A glass entrance vestibule invites passersby to observe rehearsals and imagine auditioning.

The Wallace’s Massey Theater supports a rich program of school and guest performances and presentations to teach and inspire.

The main lobby (left) and theater entrance (right wall, at left) doubles as gallery and campus pathway. Varied practice rooms (above) support all media.

Wold Performing Arts Center Lynn University

Boca Raton, Florida

This exuberant 750-seat flexible hall wraps performers and audience in a shared experience. Variable stage and acoustics adapt for music, dance, and drama, including performances of the Conservatory of Music, community arts groups, and university-community collaborations, as well as cultural events... even a nationally televised presidential debate. Built by economical tilt-up construction, it literally arose from the Florida sand. Its wall planes now dance in the Florida sun. State-of-the-art technology supports performance and television broadcasts.

Recent advances in digital modeling (3D and 4D) have expanded our ability to study conditions, generate options, and test feasibility, including merging in the work of mechanical-electrical and structural engineers, theatre systems designers, and lighting designers.

Multi-Use Auditorium Darien High School Darien, Connecticut

Darien’s flexible high school auditorium serves both as teaching facility and local cultural center, embedding a state-of-the-art, 1,200seat proscenium theater in the heart of the community. Interior finishes create a warm, welcoming setting for community gatherings.

Facilities include lighting galleries, perimetercurtain variable acoustics, and full fly tower.

Cabaret Hopper College, Yale University New Haven, Connecticut

Nestled in the heart of an iconic, 400-member living-and-learning

community,

this

flexible

space hosts a busy program of student-run performance and social events, with an adjoining cafe serving as kitchen when needed. State-ofthe-art technology supports media projection and distance learning, allowing students to imagine and create freely.

The adjoining recreation center and cafe serves as kitchen for the cabaret when in dinner-theater mode.

A resilient-floored exercise and dance room doubles as practice room for the cabaret.

JE Theater

Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University New Haven, Connecticut

Creatively repurposing the volume of former basement squash courts, this elegant 64-seat little theater gives its 400-member livingand-learning community a place to express itself in performance and plan a range of other activities. State-of-the-art technology supports media projection and distance learning, inviting students to imagine and create freely. A new carved stone (above) provides a playful hint in JE’s iconic Neo-Gothic courtyard of the existence of this modern, hi-tech facility down below.

Flexible Theater and Multi-Use Space Amherst College

Amherst, Massachusetts

Adding a new 6,000 sf flexible theater (left) and repurposing existing space for a flexible multi-use space (right) has energized Amherst’s campus center as a performance and event venue. Retractable seating allows the flexible theater to adopt many configurations, while the flat-floored multi-use space doubles as an social and event venue. State-of-the-art technology lets students imagine new projects here freely.

Multi-Use Auditorium Troup Intermediate School New Haven, Connecticut

Restoration has given new life to this beautiful 1930’s WPA-project interior as a school and neighborhood gathering place, where generations of previous students first experienced the stage.

State-of-the-art technology re-equips it to support new generations of student musical and dramatic productions, as well as a range of allschool assemblies and community events.

Battell Chapel Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut

Restoration of this stunning Victorian interior, long plastered over (below), energizes both multi-faith activities and musical performance (above) with its lively acoustics, enlarged chancel platform, new altar screen, and new technology.

Snyder Sanctuary Lynn University

Boca Raton, Florida

Designed to gather community and inspire spiritual experiences outside of traditional religious frameworks, this dramatic space and its support facilities also invite a wide range of performances and cultural events that enrich the life of campus and the surrounding community.

Multi-Use Space

Nathaniel Greene Community Center Guilford, Connecticut

Designed to invite community use, this popular space in the heart of historic Guilford has seen a wide range of town gatherings and the programs of its Parks and Recreation Department hosts, from mayoral debates and indoor sports to myriad performances. Lighting, sound system, room darkening, and a dance-grade resilient floor equip it to enrich community life.

Arts and Humanities Center The Taft School

Watertown, Connecticut

Renovating and expanding a collection of underutilized gymnasia (below) created a transformative new arts center for this bucholic campus. Teaching and performance facilities for music, dance, drama, and the visual arts, together with new outdoor terraces and landscaping around the campus-center pond, have made this complex a hub of campus life and energy.

Music and experimental theater (above) and dance (upper right) are supported by classrooms and studios (far left) with galleries lining shared pathways.

Sanctuary

West Side Presbyterian Church Ridgewood, New Jersey

Restoration and expansion gave new life to this historic church that burned. Like many religious facilities, it doubles as a community resource for high-quality musical-performance space with its visually warm, uplifting interior, lively acoustics, expanded chancel platform, lighting, state-ofthe-art technology, and significant new pipe organ.

Yale University Art Gallery Lecture Hall Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut

Still

popular

after

decades

of

use,

this

subterranean, 400-seat space hosts a range of lectures and presentations for teaching and cultural programs in the heart of Yale’s historic campus. It hides underground to avoid disturbing the sculpture garden above and views of Louis Kahn’s landmark Art Gallery building to which it connects. Separate interior and exterior entrances enable it to serve programs of both Gallery and University, and to welcome the New Haven community. A simple interior, dramatic lighting, and state-of-the-art media equip it for a range of community service.

Visual & Performing Arts Center Study Emory and Henry University Emory, Virginia

This unbuilt design illustrates how facilities for the visual and performing arts can adopt forms that invite broad participation while creating welcoming and inspiring new outdoor places that extend campus and strengthen campus sense of place.

ng growth A simple, unding and ore Building deficiencies priorities can the SFA main nd is crespace of the

School of Fine Arts Master Plan University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut

This master plan, developed through detailed consultation with faculty and administrators, provides a phased road map to the future of the fine and performing arts at UConn. It grew from a

structed in f each phased make changes s of the time. e based on the

ished at the floor we show ared by all , production mance buildnt work.

arily a func-

winning competition design (above) by Newman Architects and Gehry Associates, that the State set aside when deciding to renovate and expand instead of replacing existing facilities. As seen in the model image at right and the vision image above (top), this plan will combine renovated and new facilities and outdoor spaces to form an arts village that welcomes both Town and Gown at a major campus-edge corner.

‘Test Fit’Study The purpose of this plan diagram is to generally validate the functionality of the facility master plan block diagram for the new program elements.

Multi-Use Auditorium Morgan School

Clinton, Connecticut

Our

latest

contribution

to

the

public-school

performance scene, this 720-seat state-of-the-art facility (seen near the end of construction, right, and in a first rehearsal, above top) has just begun its life as a new community resource.

Dancers in the Massey Theater of Greenwich Academy’s Wallace Performing Arts Center

“Every time I experience something new in the Wallace Performing Arts Center, I’m reminded of the incredible, creative talent that you poured into this project. We have witnessed the transformation of our visual and performing arts program as a result of the building, and we’ve more than doubled the number of performances and exhibits we’re able to mount each year….Two weeks ago the Greenwich Historical Society held its benefit, a reading of a Willa Cather short story by Joanne Woodward, in the Massey Theater. Her performance was inspired, and I was proud that it took place in our magnificent space…I am deeply grateful to you for having the vision to bring our school to its current state.”

“This inspiring structure will serve as a focal point that will provide an inviting space for anyone looking to connect with their spiritual nature no matter their cultural background,” Kevin Ross, President, Lynn University

Patsy Howard, Former Headmistress Greenwich Academy

Barbara Eaton, Parishioner West Side Presbyterian Church

“Newman Architects’ experience at the University includes the renovation of many historically sensitive buildings including Battell Chapel and Jonathan Edwards and Hopper Colleges...Newman Architects are uniquely adept at making sensitive connections between new additions and existing historic architecture. They understand how to cohesively integrate old and new. In addition to their design talents, the firm is accessible and committed to needs of their client and to resolving problems quickly...They care deeply about the concerns of their clients. The buildings at Yale for which they have been architect are located in a dense urban fabric with very difficult site constraints and complex owner constituencies. They are excellent collaborators and unselfish team players who seek solutions and resolution of issues with win-win attitude for all concerned, while pursuing excellence in design, construction methodology, and service.”

“More than just a good job, Mr. Newman’s work has helped contribute to a sense that the city, through good government, accessibility to the public and through attentiveness to the smaller needs of the citizenry, is indeed making a comeback. . . . Mr. Newman has a great talent for putting his designs in context with our community’s cultural and economic directions. He hears and understands the city’s pulse and heartbeat and, most of all, he cares deeply about our community. Always, the result is a project with grace and vision that is accessible and consumer friendly.

We are fortunate to have a man with such vision and talent.”

David Yager, Former Program Manager Yale University “Clinton’s wonderful new Morgan School not only renews our town’s high-school educational capabilities, but also creates a significant new community place for gathering and recreation, thanks to the creative and resourceful teamwork of our extraordinary project team...Team leader Newman Architects established a project culture of listening, open information sharing, and generous collaboration from day one, bringing educational leaders, town personnel, and design and construction professionals together...At every step of the way, they helped us inform our constituencies and build consensus for moving forward.”

Maryann O’Donnell, Superintendent Clinton Public Schools

“The day the church burned, I was standing in the parking lot and thought, ‘My God. I’ll probably never get to see the new church’... I feel twenty years younger to see all this today.”

John DeStefano, Jr., Former Mayor, City of New Haven “I am very closely familiar with a good deal of Mr. Newman’s work, having frequently visited and used--almost inhabited--many of the public spaces that he has designed or helped to build...He has demonstrated insight into the particular human traits and needs likely to be present--insight that involves deep and profound recognition of the interests and activities of those who will use them. He creates space for scholarship and energetic interaction of ideas and personalities, and his gift for this kind of creation springs from his own active engagement in these worlds.”

Richard Blumenthal, Senator and Former Attorney General, State of Connecticut

Design Process

Team Structure An open office environment supports our ‘studio’ style organization, with staff grouped into teams supporting principals-in-charge to address project challenges in a flexible manner. This approach delivers talent where needed, when needed, with efficiency and effectiveness. We add consultants as each project progresses to provide the right engineering and specialty expertise for each task.

Consensus Building We listen. We meet regularly with stake-holders to gather essential project information and to assist with decision making, building the consensus to move the project forward to completion. Our communication and coordination skills achieve success with complex constellations of constituency groups and in demanding regulatory environments.

Building Information Modeling - BIM As early adopters of 3-D Building Information Modeling, we use BIM for all projects and ask the same of our consultants. We also employ a growing variety of platforms that coordinate and/or ‘piggy back’ onto it to tap its analytical and synthesizing powers, enhancing our ability to generate alternatives quickly, to monitor project scope and cost, to improve coordination and reduce conflicts, and to support enhanced visualization. With MEPF systems coordinated in 3-D, our digital models have reduced contractor bids and costs, installation conflicts during construction, and construction time.

Integrated Delivery We use our leadership in 3-D design to support the construction process. We are participating in the development of new practices in the delivery of architectural projects, collaborating with construction managers and building owners at all phases of design, bidding, and construction, utilizing BIM as the common platform for communication of intention and realization.

Design Visualization We employ a wide range of powerful visualization methods to help ourselves and our clients understand and test design concepts and alternatives, including: physical and virtual modeling, photo-realistic synthetic imaging, digital fly-over and walk-though animation, and virtual reality and augmented reality immersive techniques.

Public Outreach We have developed an extensive repertoire of skills and tools for helping institutions successfully engage their internal communities, build consensus, present to the public, and obtain community acceptance of proposed projects.

Cost and Schedule Control We maintain control of cost and schedule through a range of tools and processes. We specify the creative use of testing and mockups to verify feasibility and constructability. We set project schedules early and review them periodically together with the use of Microsoft Project scheduling tools. We set and benchmark-test budgets early and review them periodically. We assess risk rigorously at each project phase. BIM systems export detailed information about scope to guide estimating and procurement. We have also gathered extensive experience with alternative procurement and contractdelivery strategies that can speed schedules and reduce cost, including: fast-track documentation, design-build, early enabling projects, and early purchasing.

Quality Control We employ an arsenal of quality-control techniques, including: a detailed office design and procedures manual; outside code/regulatory reviews; internal third-party document reviews of our work and that of our consultants at each project phase to ensure correctness, coordination, and constructability; coordination with project CM’s in developing and checking documents; and BIM systems that unify project information in unified, cloud-based models that greatly reduce opportunities for conflicts.

NEWMANARCHITECTS.COM

About Our Firm

Newman Architects PC is a collaborative design firm based in New Haven, Connecticut, in the heart of the Yale University campus, with a Washington, DC branch office in Georgetown to serve our clients in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The quality of our work has been recognized through publication and awards, including more than 150 design-excellence awards from the American Institute of Architects, the Boston Society of Architects, the International Interior Design Association, and other industry and professional associations.

We dedicate ourselves to a human-centered design philosophy that seeks ways to improve the built environment and make a lasting, beneficial impact on the way people live. We believe that architecture should dignify and enrich the lives of those who experience it. The most enduring architecture accommodates and celebrates those fundamental patterns of human behavior that are immutable - such as the need for human interaction, the need to see and be seen, the need for privacy, and the love of ceremony. We create space for these timeless needs, using the clarity of path and structure, the luminance of natural light, and the humanizing quality of natural materials to honor and accommodate them. These places enhance the quality of life and encourage communication and interaction.

We recognize that we do not work alone, and that what we create is not due solely to our efforts. It is the work of many, and can never be considered whole without the engaged involvement of those we design with and for. None of us know, when we begin, what the result will be. For ourselves and our project partners, our process and its outcome necessarily involves exploration and discovery.

300 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511 | 203.772.1990 1054 31st Street NW, Suite 140, Washington, DC 20007 | 202.525.2726 www.newmanarchitects.com © 2017