The canopy of the new Piedmont Arrendale Amphitheater was deftly sculpted to match the natural contours of the gentle slopes bordering the wetland preserve at Piedmont College, Demorest, Ga., and cuts a striking profile against the wilderness directly behind center stage. The piece de résistance of the college’s Master Plan for the Arts, the Board of Trustees commissioned architects Armentrout Roebuck Matheny Consulting Group of Athens, Ga., to design a state-of-the-art outdoor entertainment venue, with an infrastructure that could accommodate everything from college performances to larger scale commercial productions. The 500-seat amphitheater with over-floor grass seating opened in October 2009.
The design team worked closely with the College Theater Department to coordinate and implement adequate theatrical lighting and controls, audio infrastructure and electrical supply. “The actual design of the canopy was shaped in large part to provide the proper acoustics and sight lines for the sloped seating areas, as well as solar modeled to optimize the shading during the warmer summer months,” said architect James Blythe, AIA, LEED AP, of Armentrout Roebuck Matheny Consulting Group.
“Reynobond ACM was our first choice for the skin of the canopy for several reasons,” Blythe continued. “We needed a material that would hold up well overtime, with little to no maintenance or refinishing; that is lightweight with excellent dimensional stability so we could make the supporting structure as efficient as possible; and that could be shaped and cut to create the aesthetic our design team envisioned from the concept stages of the project. We felt that a traditional material wouldn’t do the canopy’s faceted shape the proper justice it deserved, or that it would keep its shape and appearance over time. Given the great deal of finish and color options that are standard for ACM, it made sense from multiple angles.” Kistler-McDougall Corp., Woodstock, Ga., fabricated and installed 5,000 square feet (465 m2) of 0.16-inch (4-mm) Reynobond ACM, PE core with a Platinum Colorweld 300XL finish in a 21/4-inch (57-mm) Wet Seal System. Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, Ga., supplied the Reynobond ACM.
“The faceted geometry of the canopy made it very difficult to field measure this project. Each panel had to be cut to size in order to get the facets of each geometric shape just right,” said Herman Kistler of Kistler McDougall. “Since no two panels were alike, we used a Leica High Definition Scanner to measure the canopy.” Scroggs and Grizzel Contracting Inc., Gainesville, Ga., served as the general contractor for the project.
Originally part of the College’s Master Plan for a complex for the arts, the project was delayed by budget cuts, which proved beneficial when a private benefactor stepped in to revive the project. Gus Arrendale, the chairman of the Board of Trustees and president of Fieldale Farms Corp., Baldwin, Ga., not only provided the funding, but also expanded the scope of the project to ensure that a very high quality venue was created. Using the natural slope of the land to their advantage, the designers incorporated a multifunctional room to house lighting and electrical controls directly under the stage while preserving sight lines to the wetlands beyond.
“We couldn’t be happier with the results of this project,” Blythe concluded. “In fact, after working with it on this project, we found that Reynobond ACM is much easier to design with than we previously envisioned and anticipate using it in future work. The client and donors are also very pleased with the outcome, and look forward to the low maintenance and clean look for years to come.”
Alcoa Architectural Products, www.reynobond.com
