Technology and art combine for new facility
by Jonathan McGaha | December 31, 2008 12:00 am
The newly constructed EMPAC, or Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, at Rensselaer Polytechnic University, Troy, N.Y., is a state-of-the- art, groundbreaking development whose mission is to offer an ambitious international artistic exchange program, which provides opportunities for interaction between artists and researchers in science and technology.
Designed by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, New York and London, the building is unobtrusively nestled into the side of a sloping hill. A glass curtainwall allows for impressive views of the Hudson River. The 222,000-square-foot (20,624-m2) building includes a concert hall, theater, two performing studios, one rehearsal studio and four small studios for artists in residence.
The keystone of the building, the concert hall features an impressive exterior of a wooden hull made of curved cedar planks. Resembling a giant ancient ship, the complicated structure presented many architectural and design challenges.
Because of its complexity, Ernesto Bachiller of Davis Brody Bond, New York, architect of record,contacted Richard Herskovitz, an architect for Architectural Woodwork Industries, Philadelphia, to consult on the project. “The hull was a one-of-a-kind assembly, and we needed a contractor to bounce ideas off of and collaboratively develop a system to achieve the intent,” Bachiller said.
Herskovitz partnered with Bachiller to troubleshoot challenges in the design, discover conflicts and provide collaborative solutions. “The hull portion of the building was very unique because of its non-uniform rational b-spline surfaces, which are very tough to build because they don’t follow normal geometry,” Herskovitz explained. “I took the surface design drawings, and we created architectural and structural drawings, which immediately identified conflicts between the two.
“To resolve these conflicts, Herskovitz garnered the assistance of Radius Track, Minneapolis, who worked with all the architects to create mock-ups of the giant curved surface and also translate a substantial amount of data to custom fabricate the precise steel studs needed.
Herskovitz and engineering colleague Ron Evans collaborated with Radius Track on the design methodology and modeling, paring down the walls to individual components to address the unique design on a unit-by-unit basis.
Radius Track’s Rhino software program communicated with the company’s proprietary manufacturing system to accurately bend the steel studs that were then numbered according to placement and shipped to a prefabrication company for pre-installation assembly. The properly bent metal studs and tracks were shipped in a user-friendly kit containing approximately 320 prenumbered wall units that were assembled to create the wall panels and then shipped to the job site for installation.
“The walls of the hull were curved in both vertical and horizontal dimensions, and Radius Track bent the stud segments to the exact radius that was necessary,” said Andrew Hudson of Eastern Exterior Wall Systems, Bethlehem, Pa., the prefabrication firm that assembled the wall panels. “That’s not something that would be very easy to do by hand.”
Once the panels reached the job site, they were installed and covered by an initial, fire-retardant wood covering, then overlapped by the final cedar façade.
“We installed the panels so they aligned with the face of the large metal brackets,” said Angelo Muscolino, owner of AM Contracting, Albany, N.Y., the on-site installer. “The brackets were bent and crimped according to specifications from the bending operation’s design software, and the panels fit right into place. It was amazing the panels fit so easily because the unique curves of the hull required we use theoretical survey points located out in space.”
One of the many interesting features of the facility is that the wooden hull is contained entirely within the atrium, allowing people to walk around it. Concert hall access is provided via elevated walkways that run like gangplanks through the atrium. Once in the concert hall, the ceiling is covered in fabric to better conduct sound throughout the room. The state-of-the-art acoustic isolation allows for all performance space to be used simultaneously without disruption.
The center opened its doors this fall, welcoming new and returning students to campus.
Radius Track
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/technology-and-art-combine-for-new-facility/