FEATURE | Mount Royal University Conservatory and Bella Concert Hall
Hitting a High Note
Mount Royal University Conservatory and Bella Concert Hall construction nears completion
By Melanie Franner The new Conservatory and Bella Concert Hall will include rehearsal studios, master-class classrooms, a percussion room, a student lounge, a board room, a multi-level lobby, and at the heart, a 773-seat “intimate” venue.
The new Mount Royal University Conservatory and Bella Concert Hall is more than just a vision of performing arts excellence; it is now a solid, fully enclosed structure that prominently rises from the ground for all to see. And as it awaits the next stage of its completion, it prepares for its rightfully earned place among the great musical facilities of this era. “Last fall, there was this massive concrete structure coming out of the ground,” states Paul Dornian, director, Mount Royal University Conservatory. “Today, the crane is gone and the building is fully enclosed. It’s been quite a transformation. There are some teaching studios and classrooms where the millwork is starting to be installed. It’s a very exciting time right now. It’s gone from being a shell to the point where one can really begin to understand the building and feel what a truly magnificent place it is going to be.” A medley of partners The new Conservatory and Bella Concert Hall has been years in the making
114
Calgary Construction Association Magazine
but the project really got off the ground in 2011 when Pfeiffer Partner Architects Inc. and Sahuri & Partners Architecture Inc. began work on the concept. The facility itself, which will be LEED Gold certified, will be a little more than 8,700 gross metres in size and will include rehearsal studios, master-class classrooms, a percussion room, a student lounge, a board room, and a multilevel lobby. At the heart of the facility will be the Bella Concert Hall, a 773-seat “intimate” venue where the audience will feel one with the stage during all different types of performances, including choirs, chamber music, ensembles, and orchestras. Critical to the overall success of the new facility is the acoustics, not only for the concert hall itself but also for the different rehearsal and teaching rooms that will be used to mentor the next generation of world-class musicians. And it is this overriding reverence to the acoustics that has driven much of the construction to date.
“It’s a very, very complicated project,” explains Danuta Darling, project engineer, CANA Construction. “It’s a concert hall and conservatory so the predominant feature of this building – and what everyone is most concerned about – is the acoustics. Because of this, the building requires different construction methods.” But even here, it’s complicated. “It’s not just a concert hall,” continues Darling. “It’s a number of practice studios and classrooms. Each of these rooms needs to be completely isolated from the neighbouring rooms and from the corridors and hallways. Each of the slabs in the rooms has to be isolated from the structural slab that it sits on, so that there is no bridging of sound into the neighbouring spaces or noise vibration. This was achieved by installing rolling-out isolation flooring between slabs. In some cases, the walls are comprised of between six to 10 layers of drywall. The room’s perimeters have to be completely separated, insulated with polyethylene perimeter isolation boards, caulked with