Water Works Park, Des Moines, Iowa, covers nearly 1,500 acres of open wooded areas. Located next to the Racoon River west of Gray’s Lake, it is one of America’s largest urban parks and a critical source of clean drinking water for 500,000 Central Iowans. The park also offers biking, jogging, picnicking, fishing and hiking. The new Lauridsen Amphitheater is a unique outdoor venue with a two-way design that provides optional even configurations based on the audience size. The theater faces north and looks over the large Innovation Field, which allows for events ranging from 2,000 to 25,000 participants.
Color-shifting ACM panels reflect changing seasons
Photo: Joe Crimmings Photography, courtesy of 3A Composites USA
The $1.5 million amphitheater is the focal point of a multiphase master development plan for the park, which is owned by Des Moines Water Works. The plan, which was introduced in 2013 by the nonprofit Des Moines Water Works Park Foundation along with the City of Des Moines, is designed to grow the park and increase recreational and educational opportunities for visitors.
According to Tyler Jessen, AIA, NCARB, architect at RDG Planning & Design, Des Moines, the firm was hired by the Water Works Foundation to develop the park by providing an underpass connection to an adjacent park and enhancing an underutilized, flood-prone open space alongside a mature arboretum. Jessen was in charge of providing a flood-resistant, dual-sided amphitheater structure that would primarily stand as a folly in the park for the everyday experience, but then transform as an armature to hold equipment for musical performances.
Photo: Joe Crimmings Photography, courtesy of 3A Composites USA
Dual Sides
Allowing it to accommodate both small-scale performance and medium- to large-scale performances, the amphitheater is dual sided. The south side faces a smaller lawn for performances under 2,000 people, while the north faces a large field for performances ranging from 2,000 to 25,000 people. The amphitheater stage is covered with an ellipses-shaped canopy measuring 65 feet wide by 45 feet long and is supported by two intertwining tree limb-like steel legs standing 31 feet tall on the north and 23 feet tall on the south.
Flood Resilient
Due to its location in a floodplain, Jessen says the amphitheater structure first and foremost had to be flood resilient. There have been multiple times over the past couple of decades where water levels have breached the 100-year level, requiring the structure to be able to maintain its integrity in case of another event. It was also important that the project avoid a large footprint to comply with FEMA restrictions on site manipulations that would alter the flooding patterns.
“The structure needed to take on a sculptural form that was both iconic and responsive to the contextual backdrop of a wooded park,” Jessen says. “As a sculpture, it needed to simultaneously be emblematic of the site as it once was and what it will be become with the new park design.”
Photo: Joe Crimmings Photography, courtesy of 3A Composites USA
Oak Tree Inspiration
In a manner reminiscent of the surrounding oak trees that twist and stretch toward leafy canopies in the riverside woodland, the amphitheater stretches toward the sky. “As a sculpture, the amphitheater canopy as a metaphor connects with the adjacent tree canopies located in the parks arboretum,” explains Jessen. “The color-changing quality of the panels resonates with the changing of seasons, shifting from green to red hues as you walked from side to side, representing the passage of time and how the tree canopies change through the seasons. As this material is encountered under shade, the reflective surface mirrors the adjacent oak trees and provides an armature in which to view them and reflect on their beauty.”
Jessen notes that the directive was to provide a sculptural amphitheater that stands as an iconic feature within the newly designed park, which would also activate the community to engage in play or leisurely walks along the paths. “We arrived at our design by following the organic moves made by the landscape team and, additionally, expressing a structure emblematic of the arboretum adjacent to the amphitheater,” he says. “You will see the structure of the amphitheater twist and form a weave of pipes similar to the way a large oak tree’s limbs grow to support a canopy of leaves in the summer.”
According to Jessen, the structural columns were of particular interest to design and integrate within the cladding system. The design team ended up working closely with the fabricator, Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Metal Design Systems Inc. (MDSI) early on in the design phase so to understand the constructability methods and considerations. “The two main structural columns or tree limb cloisters became the iconic piece to the design, which provided to be the most challenging component of the structure,” he explains. “The two cloisters are each compromised of 20, 8-inch steel pipes that twist and spiral from a concrete pier base to support the above ACM-clad canopy. The 20 pipes are divided into two rows of 10, where each row is offset to allow the pipes to spiral in opposite direction while bypassing without intersecting each other. Coordinating the steel fabrication required a great amount of collaboration with the fabricator to hit critical tolerances and final finish with the desired quality of architectural exposed steel.”
Photo: Joe Crimmings Photography, courtesy of 3A Composites USA
Color-Shifting Properties
To clad the amphitheater’s canopy, the architects chose 2,125 square feet of 4-mm ALUCOBOND PLUS aluminum composite material (ACM) from 3A Composites USA Inc., Davidson, N.C. This includes 2,055 square feet in Sakura from the Spectra Collection of color-shifting finishes and 70 square feet of Reflect Mirror from The Natural Collection Element Series. Additionally, ALUCOBOND PLUS in Reflect Mirror was installed as an accent on returns of larger Sakura panels.
MDSI fabricated a total of 410 ALUCOBOND PLUS panels, including 350 panels in the Sakura finish and 60 panels in the Reflect Mirror finish. Panel fabrication was completed in approximately four months, and the panels were installed by Des Moines-based The Waldinger Corp., in MDSI’s Spline Reveal Drained and Back Ventilated Rainscreen System Series 20.
“We recommended ALUCOBOND PLUS in Sakura because it had the desired color-shifting finish that worked well with the architect’s color scheme,” says Matt Rechkemmer, regional sales manager at MDSI. “The Reflect Mirror finish was used as an accent color on the panel return legs in order to allow the Sakura panels to appear to float.”
Jessen agrees, saying, “The canopy of the amphitheater would reflect the colors of a tree canopy and how they change throughout the year—greenish hues during the peak summer season and shifting to yellows and reds as leaves tend to change in the fall. Cladding the canopy entirely with this finish allows you to metaphorically witness this natural occurrence throughout each day. As the sun rotates around the canopy and reflects different waves of light, the Sakura panels appear to shift color just like the change of seasons.”
Photo: Joe Crimmings Photography, courtesy of 3A Composites USA
Effective Coordination
To ensure that the structural steel, standing seam roofing and framing was coordinated effectively, Rechkemmer says MDSI created a production model that was followed by all trades on the job site.
Additionally, RDG Planning & Design worked closely with MDSI to create a custom panel design to conceal concert rigging when not in use. “We needed a unique approach to conceal rigging points used only for performances to hang light trusses and speakers; these are stainless steel shackles that hang down at 15 different locations under the canopy,” explains Jessen. “We worked with the panel fabricator to develop a hatch door with a full mortise invisible hinge and a suspension rod closer. The hatch is clad with the ALUCOBOND PLUS panels to blend in with adjacent panels.”
RDG Planning & Design began work on Phase I of the park’s master plan—including design of the amphitheater—in spring 2016. Construction began in summer 2018 and was completed in May 2019. The Lauridsen Amphitheater hosted its first concert with country artist Clint Black on June 22, 2019. The final phase of the master plan wrapped construction in summer 2020.