AT&T Performing Arts Center · 40 • February 2010 • Lighting &Sound America The vertical...

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February 2010

AT&TPerformingArts Center Dallas’ astonishing new complex

Concerts:Star Wars in Concert

Theatre:The Orphan’s Home Cycle

ALSO: Concert Lighting, Third Edition

Littlefield Concert Hall

LSC Clarity

Audio/Video Bridging

Copyright Lighting&Sound America February 2010 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

It’s a cliché to say that they dothings bigger in Texas, but, whentrying to describe the new AT&T

Performing Arts Center, the cliché willhave to do. At this recession-plaguedmoment, the breadth of the projectastonishes: At a cost of $354 million,a vast new outdoor plaza has beencreated in downtown Dallas, makingroom for the Margot and BillWinspear Opera House (designed foropera, ballet, and touring Broadwayproductions), the Dee and CharlesWyly Theatre (home to Dallas TheatreCenter); the Annette Strauss ArtistSquare (an open-air theatre forconcerts), City Performance Hall (aproduction space for the city’ssmaller performing arts organiza-tions); and Elaine D. and Charles A.Sammons Park (a 10-acre publicspace). A press release calls it “themost significant new performing artscomplex to be built since New YorkCity’s Lincoln Center,” and, for once,

the self-promotion seems justified.A major attempt at reorienting the

city’s place on the map of Americanculture, the project also represents anexpansion of the Dallas Arts District,a neighborhood that, among otherthings, is home to the Dallas Museumof Art, the Morton H. MeyersonSymphony Center, and the Booker T.Washington High School for thePerforming Arts. It’s also anenormous gesture of civic pride; toget a sense of the community’ssupport for the project, consider this:A total of 133 individual donors eachgave more than $1 million to make ithappen. Over 90% of the project isprivately funded.Like most grand-scale projects of

this nature, it has been long a-borning. Richard Pilbrow, founder ofTheatre Projects Consultants, took hisfirst meeting on it in 1984. For variousreasons—the size of the challenge,the ups and downs of the local

economy—the project was on and offseveral times. Ideas were proposed;participants came and went. It wasn’tuntil early in this century that theplayers were in place and designswere approved.In the following pages, we will look

at the Wyly Theatre and the WinspearOpera House, the first completedpieces of the project. They are verydifferent in their scales and ambitions,but are linked in one crucial way: Eachprovides a highly workable theatrespace, designed according to classicprinciples, sheathed in buildings ofconsiderable intellectual complexity.Even here, however, there are differ-ences. Enter the Winspear and youencounter a classic horseshoe operahouse, a design that is familiar aroundthe world. The Wyly Theatre, as we willsee, is modeled on one of the greatmodern English playhouses, but it alsopushes the concept of the flexibletheatre to its limit.

38 • February 2010 • Lighting&Sound America

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AT&T PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, PART I

The Dee and Charles Wyly Theatrecombines innovative design withtotal flexibilityBy: David Barbour

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The vertical theatreViewed from the outside, The Deeand Charles Wyly Theatre looks like alot of things, but a theatre is notnecessarily one of them. It is aseveral-story cube, with windows onthe first two levels; above that, it isclad in a surface of corrugatedaluminum—nine miles of it—brokenup only by large windows in threeplaces. The name of the theatre isseen in illuminated letters runningvertically down the front of thebuilding. Adding to one’s intrigue isthe realization that the auditorium issurrounded by glass.The building was begun by the firm

OMA, with Rem Koolhaas as theprincipal, in association withHouston-based Kendall/HeatonAssociates. While in progress, JoshuaPrince-Ramus, the partner in charge,left OMA, and started his own firm,Rex; together, the two firms saw to

completion their plan to “overturnconventional theatre design.”In doing so, they were responding

to the needs of the client. For most ofits life, Dallas Theatre Center washoused in the Kalita HumphreysTheatre, a Frank Lloyd Wright projectthat proved to be more striking thanuseful. Later, the company added asecond space that lacked manyamenities but helped to set theagenda for what was to come.“DTC was housed in the Arts DistrictTheatre, a dilapidated metal shed thatfreed its resident companies from thelimitations imposed by fixed stageconfiguration and the need to avoidharming expensive interior finishes,”says a statement by the architects.“The directors who worked there

constantly challenged the traditionalconventions of theatre and oftenreconfigured the form of the stage tofit their artistic visions,” adds the

architects’ statement. “As a result,the Arts District Theatre wasrenowned as the most flexible theatrein America.” As always with suchspaces, they add, there was adownside: “The costs of constantlyreconfiguring its stage, however,became a financial burden andeventually DTC permanently fixed itsstage into a ‘thrust-cenium.’”Nevertheless, at a press event for theWyly, Josh Prince-Ramus noted thata key goal was to preserve theextreme flexibility of the Arts DistrictTheatre in the Wyly.Seeking to combine a sleek

appearance with efficient operationand to provide maximum flexibility forthe theatre, the architects hit on theidea of stacking spaces on 12 levels,thus arranging the necessary supportrooms above and below theauditorium. (The building’s total area is80,300 sq. ft.) The lobby is located on

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the ground floor; attendees step up afloor, through narrow vomitoria, toenter the theatre. The “backstage”area, including dressing rooms, etc., islocated beneath the auditorium; themechanical room is a floor below that.The Sky Studio, a rehearsalroom/black-box space/reception area,can be found above the auditorium,roughly parallel with the fly tower. Theadministrative offices are locateddirectly above the Sky Studio;adjoining the offices are a conferenceroom and the costume shop. Toppingit off are the rooftop terrace, educationcenter, and outdoor terrace; the latteris covered in Astroturf and provides anexpansive view of the city.Rem Koolhaas, speaking at the

press event, said his goal was “todevise architecture with the same

versatility as an industrial venue. Ihate the traditional theatre profile ofthe door, auditorium, back of house,and front of house. Instead, we choseto pile the front-of-house and back-of-house functions on top of andbelow the auditorium, making for asmaller footprint overall.” He addedthat the building’s vertical conceptwas developed in contradistinction tothe Winspear Opera House, whichhas a more horizontal profile.The interior of the building is

designed so that many of the roomsare visible to one another.“Transparency was very important,”says Benton Delinger, the projectmanager for Theatre Projects. “You’realways aware of other activities in thebuilding.” In addition, when onestands on the Bess and Ted Enloe

Terrace—the outdoor area fitted withAstroturf—one can see into theMcGhee Educational Center. Insidethe educational center, one can seeinto the costume shop. In anotherexample of the transparency, the wallbetween the patrons lounge and theSky Studio is retractable, allowing theroom to be used for larger perform-ances and/or events. In addition, theelevators are found on the building’sexterior, allowing for views of Dallasas one travels up and down.There are many unusual and

graceful touches throughout thebuilding. The walls in the McGheeEducational Center consist entirely ofwhiteboard, allowing users to expresstheir ideas in magic marker. Thecostume shop features bothfluorescent and incandescent lighting,

Opposite: The view from the stage of the Potter Rose Performance Hall, showing the seating towers and the catwalks. This page, top:The stage in its thrust configuration. This page, bottom: A side view, showing the surrounding windows.

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allowing the costume staff to workcomfortably and still get a sense ofwhat the clothes will look like understage lighting. (Tillotson DesignAssociates, of New York, provided thebuilding’s architectural lighting.)Wherever possible, green materialswere used; for example, the polyboardfloors in the Sky Studio are made ofrecycled plastics.John Coyne, of Theatre Projects,

who worked on the design of thetheatre with Brian Hall and JohnRunia, also of Theatre Projects, notesthat it was a challenge to fit thenecessary pieces of the company—the auditorium and support spaces—into the building’s unique configu-ration: “There were all sorts of circu-lation ideas. At one point, the theatrewas on top, and, another time, thelobby was on top of the theatre andyou would take an escalator to exit.We had to be careful with the verticalcirculation. We still wanted to be ableto get to at least three corners of thestage. We had to think through thecirculation, as well as how to get the

actors into the auditorium when theywant to work around the audience.But the architects wanted everythingexposed. So, for example, there’s astairway on the left side that goesstraight down to the dressing rooms.”Delinger notes that the finalarrangement of spaces around thetheatre is highly functional. “With thedressing rooms under the stage, theyhave some of the best access to thestage for their typical size of cast.They also have two large chorusrooms two floors down, and on thestage level, bathrooms; also, theprops kitchen area, just offstage, canbe used an offstage dressing room.”But it is the auditorium itself, with

its many manifestations, that is themain event.

The ultra-flexible theatreSeveral different ideas contributed tothe extreme level of flexibility insidethe theatre. First, there was thecompany’s experience with the DallasArts District Theatre, which openedduring the tenure of Adrian Hall, the

former artistic director. Working withRichard Hamburger, his successor,Theatre Projects identified theCottlesloe Theatre, the famed flexiblespace at London’s National Theatre,as the right model.Coyne has designed several

productions for Dallas Theatre Center:“I had worked in the shed [Dallas ArtsDistrict Theatre] and I knew what theyliked about it. I had worked in theKalita Humphreys Theatre, and I knewwhat they didn’t like about that.” Headds, “The shed was a big, openroom, and they could set it up in allsorts of ways. As time went on, theywere spending more and more moneyto change it over; they wanted to limitthe changeover to less than an eight-hour call. The shed was 100' by 100',which is almost the footprint in thenew theatre. The DNA of the shed isin the new theatre.”Delinger adds, “It really came

down to the fact that they wanted todo a thrust, an end stage, and, ifpossible, an arena, if they wished.”And the architects were predisposed

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towards flexibility. (Koolhas has notedthat he is claustrophobic and wantedto avoid the sense of imprisonmentthat he feels inside a theatre, whilepreserving the space’s intimacy.)Delinger recalls, “Josh Prince-Ramussaid, ‘What if we did an open room, abeautiful glass box, in which you cando anything?’ The client said, ‘Whynot?’ Then it became our job—thetechnical issues, keeping it rational tothe budget, and keeping the squarefootage from getting too big.”The theatre, which seats as many

as 575, is a machine made up ofmany moving parts. In addition to theorchestra level, there is seating ontwo additional tiers, or towers, whichwrap around three sides of theauditorium. These can fly out, asnecessary, along with the prosceniumwall, to create a flat floor, allowing forrapid reconfiguration of theauditorium. On three sides, theauditorium also features an acoustic-quality glass curtain wall system withbuilt-in shade controls. Given thesepieces, any configuration is possible.Or, if desired, the seats can beremoved and a few of the glass wallsopened to create a party space. Asfor the floor seating, Coyne says,“We’ve installed seating wagons thatstore under the auditorium, in a sub-basement level.”“It’s the first fully automated

regional theatre in terms of the powerflying on stage,” says MichaelNishball, of Theatre Projects. Manypieces involved are custom-designed,he adds. “We have a flying piececalled the crash wall, a truss-framedflat that creates a big grid of a wallupstage; it can be used as abackdrop or a lighting position.There’s also a 1,5000lb-capacitycustom hoist for the entireproscenium, which flies out.”The stage equipment contractor

for the entire project was SECOA, ofChamplin, Minnesota. The riggingsystem, furnished by Vortek, adivision of Daktronics, consists of 49

hoists, including 43 of the company’sPro Series units and two customhoists for the house curtain and crashwall. The seating tower hoists makeuse of a Daktronics product generallyused for scoreboards. The four hoistsfor the seating towers are alsocustom-made; each is capable ofmoving a tower 6' horizontally and28' vertically, with a lifting capacity of60,000lbs. (Nishball says that the twoelectronically synchronized hoists forthe rear seating tower can handle119,000lbs.)The lifts that allow the reconfigu-

ration of the stage were furnished bySerapid. They include more than 50LinkLift telescoping columns tosupport a proscenium/orchestrapit/wagon storage lift, a center seatingwagon lift, six seat-configuration liftswhich contain a turntable axis, andtwo seating riser lifts. The prosceniumlift platform is 216 sq. ft. with a traveldistance of 36'. The center seatingwagon lift platform is 432 sq. ft., witha travel distance of 5'. The seatconfiguration lift platforms are 81 sq.ft. each, with 8' and 4' of travel. Theturntable axis rotates 180°, and theseating riser lifts are 27 sq. ft. each,with 3' of travel. “The lift system iswirelessly controlled for increasedaccess and monitoring of themachinery,” says Nishball.In addition, he says, “The east

seating tower features a telescopingbridging system that brings the

audience from the elevators andconnects them to the seating at twolevels. It can retract from an 11' spaninto a 5' cassette and hinge up tostore vertically, depending on ifthey’re in an end-stage or thrustconfiguration. It was provided by acompany named InnovativeIndustries; it’s designed to be usedwith emergency vehicles and weadapted it to our needs.”Overhead is what Nishball calls “a

grid of lighting catwalks for theforestage. Some of them areremovable; you can slide themsideways, allowing room to flyscenery above them.” And, he says,“Because the glass walls of theaudience/stage chamber are on threesides, there was no place to putaudio, lighting circuits, or conven-ience outlets. To deal with this, wecreated a service trough around thestage, with technical vaults bringingall the necessary services up frombelow stage level.” The room is fittedwith lighting positions in variouslocations, including along the edge ofeach tier of the seating towers.Renz van Luxemburg, of the Dutch

firm DHV (formerly Dorsserblesgraaf),notes that the design of the theatreposed many acoustical challenges.“We had to look at the chamber andthe fly tower as one big space,” hesays. “We also had to deal with theglass walls and the use of concrete,with their hard, strong reflections.” He

Opposite: The lobby; at right is one of the vomitoria used to enter the theatre; seephoto on page 39 for a closer view. Above: The Sky Studio.

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also took into account the theatre’sdowntown location, with traffic nearbyand planes flying overhead to LoveField airport. “We carried out measure-ments to get a good grip on what thenoise loads were,” he says.His original proposal for the

theatre’s transparent walls called forthe use of glass that was severalinches in thickness. However, he says,“You can imagine the weight of such awindow; it was decided that some ofthe windows were to be movable, sowe looked at more possibilities. Wedid a lot of research in Holland andcame back to the idea of a doublewindow, laminated on both sides, withan air space in between, and witheach of the double layers connectedby an acoustic foil. We used thisarrangement all around the room,although some spots needed extraattention—for example, near theloading door and the elevators.”Inside the auditorium, he says,

“We control the acoustics withreflectors integrated into the technicalgrid above the audience. These aremore or less fixed, although they canangle in a bit. We also treated it withacoustical insulation in a dead spaceabove the reflectors, and withacoustical panels in the fly tower. Allthe wall surfaces and the area abovethe glass have been treated withthese panels, which are made ofLinacoustic.” This approach provedsuitable because, van Luxemburgnotes, “the reverberation of thechamber doesn’t change with thedifferent configurations.” Alsodesigned into the building is anisolation area, separating theaudience’s portion of the room fromthe sky studio above it.

Outfitting the theatreThe theatre is outfitted with a PhilipsStrand Vision.net networking system.“It’s a big, complex system,” saysDelinger, adding that Strand “gave somuch support to the project.Vision.net aims to do a lot of what wedo in other theatres with AMX control

systems, and it’s working well.”Among other things, it controls theautomated window shades, houselighting system, and wireless Ethernetin the room. “It’s a comprehensivesystem that controls every light in thebuilding,” including the offices andshops, adds Peter Rogers, of Strand.“Some of the controls are occupancysensor-based; in other cases, we useVision.net to program button stations.It was a great collaborative projectwith Theatre Projects; it made usredesign the Vision.net software,making it a better product.”

Strand also supplied C21dimmers, A21 architectural dimmers,and Contact relay panels. “The archi-tectural system provides a great dealof load and power management,turning lights off or dimming them toreduce energy demands,” adsRogers. “For instance, astronomicaltime clocks make sure that lights areturned on when it’s dark outside andturned off where then is ambientdaylight. The Wyly is one of the firsttheatres to have complete buildingcontrol totally integrated into aflexible system that can save energyand meet the control needsdemanded by the space.” StrandLighting, of Dallas, acted as thesystem integrator for the lighting.The lighting package includes ETC

Source Fours, Philips Strand Fresnels,Altman cyc and strip lights, twoLycian Super Arc followspots, fourPhilips Vari*Lite VL1000s, and 18Morpheus S-Fader scrollers. Lightingcontrol is via a Strand Light PaletteVL, the company’s most advancedmoving light console, with an optionaltouch screen attached. Also availableis a smaller Light Palette console,which can be used elsewhere in thebuilding, including the Sky Studio.The sound package, which was

specified by Engineering Harmonics,of Toronto, and supplied by ClairBrothers, of Dallas, includes sevenJBL AM6200/95s for the LCR mid-high array, two JBL AL6115s forLCR subs, 21 JBL Control 25s for

underbalcony fill, and 21 JBLControl 23s for underbalconyeffects. Additional gear includes twoJBL AM6212/00s, two JBL AL6125subs, eight Tannoy i6 units for frontfill, and five Meyer Sound speakersfor thrust fill. There are two YamahaMC7L consoles—one to mix soundand one to run an SFX sound effectsplayback system. For communica-tions, there’s a Clear-Com MS-440with both Clear-Com and Telex beltpacks. The Sky Studio also featuresa Soundcraft Spirit FX 16 console,two JBL EON 15 G2 speakers, twoShure SM58 wireless mics, and aListen Technologies infraredassisted hearing system.Other key contributors included

Transsolar Energietechnik(mechanical, electrical, plumbing, andfire protection), Cosentini AssociatesMEP/FP engineer of record),Magnusson Klemencic Associates(structural engineer of record) andMcCarthy Construction (constructionmanagement).

Using the theatreThe Wyly opened at the end of October,with a production of A MidsummerNight’s Dream directed by KevinMoriarty, the theatre’s current artisticdirector], and with a set design byBeowulf Boritt. “It was done in thrust,”says Delinger. “There was scenery onthe balcony fronts—basically, theywere chalkboards—and the audiencecould draw on them. For the weddingscene, pins were pulled, and thechalkboards turned into Keith Haring-style paintings. The rear wall flew upand there was a Haring-style drop.Then all the scenery flew up and theyhad a party on stage. It used thebuilding brilliantly.”All of which must be gratifying, for

the project required unusually creativethinking. “It didn’t allow us to becomplacent,” says Delinger. “Every timeyou get pushed to the edge, youdefinitely educate yourself to be better.This project allowed us to redefine whatwe thought.”

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