Designing a Performing Arts Center from a PE Perspective
Designing a top-tier performing arts facility for a high school is a complex endeavor that demands a delicate balance between advanced technical specifications and practical budget considerations. Nevertheless, it represents a crucial initiative that enriches educational and community engagements.
Setting the Stage
Central to a high school's performing arts program is the physical venue, where performances come to life. From an MEP perspective, high school and municipal auditoriums are often (and perhaps unfairly) expected to meet the rigorous standards set by top-tier arts facilities, despite grappling with stricter financial limitations for construction and building enhancements. At a high level, finding a balance between these two items and creating a performing arts center that is considered successful by both the owner and end users is simple:
- Understand the range of how the building will be utilized.
- Give careful attention to mechanical, electrical, and acoustic engineering. Accommodate in design the architecture that is unique relative to adjacent parts of the facility. Also ensure that the new building is not significantly more difficult to maintain and service than other buildings on campus.
- Provide specialized lighting, sound, and audiovisual systems -- particularly ones that are adaptable.
- Provide seamless integration within the built environment so that the design aesthetics are appropriately highlighted.
- Ensure that the scope included in the items above does not exceed the budget the owner has available.
Easy enough. However, as they say, the devil is in the details. What types of HVAC systems lend themselves to tight budgets but are still workable from an acoustic perspective? Which acoustic measures should be implemented where to reach the target noise levels without overspending? How to best prioritize lighting fixture selections?
In this article, I will delve into a recent project centered around a high school performing arts center, outlining how my team and I navigated various distinctive challenges, some inherent in theatrical projects and others unique to this project, all while adhering to budgetary constraints.
Raising the Curtain on HVAC & Acoustics
The newly constructed 27,000-square-foot performing arts center expansion was envisioned as a central and easily accessible hub within the campus, prioritizing convenience, safety, and seamless access for students, staff, and visitors alike. Deliberately planned for versatility, the facility was aimed at hosting an array of events, ranging from intimate orchestral performances all the way up to grand theatrical productions. Acting as a multifaceted space, the center serves as both a community event venue and a teaching environment.
Facilities like this performing arts center pose several design challenges, not the least of which are for mechanical systems. Even at the high school level, the HVAC systems are expected to maintain thermal stability in all spaces, including a densely populated 750-person auditorium and stage. Some spaces have stable occupancies, while others, like the auditorium, routinely experience rapidly changing ones. The systems must also achieve good air distribution, even in spaces with high ceilings. And they need to do all this quietly, with equipment that can be maintained by an often-limited on-site engineering staff, and within a tight budget. So, the question naturally arises: Can we have it all? The answer, of course, is yes, as long as these aspects are considered early in design and intelligent compromises are weighed throughout.
For major mechanical equipment, we opted for an overhead distribution system utilizing six rooftop units (RTUs). Central heating and cooling plants did not exist, so the units instead utilized cost-effective direct expansion and gas fired heaters. Of the six RTUs, three single-zone units catered to the auditorium; one specifically for the stage and two for the seating areas. Another single-zone RTU served the scene shop. The other two RTUs collectively served the main lobby, a multipurpose classroom, and theatrical support spaces. While HVAC coverage of the expansion could have been completed with fewer RTUs of larger capacity, providing additional ones allowed for more flexible use of the individual spaces while maintaining operational simplicity of the HVAC systems, all at a defendable price increase.
Although the RTUs fit this project financially, they are not the typical choice of concert halls and other acoustically sensitive spaces due to their penchant for noise generation. This risk was mitigated during design through a few parallel efforts. First, while the expansion footprint didn’t allow for much physical separation between the RTUs and the auditorium, we strategically positioned the RTUs to at least avoid any direct contact with the auditorium. That is to say, none of the units were placed on the auditorium rooftop, and no ductwork routed directly from the rooftop into the auditorium. Instead, all ductwork dropped down into spaces adjacent to the auditorium and then routed into the auditorium proper. This minimized the potential for vibration transmission into the space while also reducing duct-borne noise by increasing the total duct length. Secondly, we provided acoustic curbs for the rooftop units, with the purpose of filtering out noise transmission through the roof decks. Third, we added sound attenuators at locations where the first two strategies did not sufficiently reduce acoustic levels. Because of the dedicated effort given toward the first two strategies, only a single attenuator was required in the entire expansion. Finally, we provided field BAS controllers for the non-refrigerant portions of the RTUs. Through conscientious programming, these controllers allowed the RTUs to reduce fan speeds better than the factory controllers, both reducing energy consumption and noise generation outside of peak conditions.
While the acoustics played a large role in how the HVAC system was designed, it was not the only challenge for the auditorium space. As with any elevated ceiling space, air distribution had to be carefully considered to avoid stratification and uncomfortable micro-climates. In larger theaters, underfloor displacement ventilation systems are commonly used, though they are often impractical for high schools due to initial costs and increased space requirements. This performing arts center was no exception, and a “patterned hole” duct system was instead used for overhead supply distribution in the seating areas. Akin to perforated ductwork, the patterned hole duct system is a series of smaller holes cut into large diameter ductwork. The end result is that it delivers an even distribution of slow-moving air across the seating area, which results in the cool air naturally spreading out and descending, ensuring comfortable ventilation while preserving acoustic integrity. The low elevation return air system for the auditorium further improves this airflow, as well as guaranteeing a motive force downward through the space during periods where the space requires heating.
Equally important to how the air is distributed to, and within, spaces are the conditions of the air itself. As mentioned before, temperature stability is of peak interest in HVAC design, but humidity can also play an important role too. In concert halls, many instruments are made from different kinds of wood, including pianos, guitars, cellos, violins, and harps. Higher-end versions of these instruments require consistent humidification to avoid warping, shrinking, and cracking, and to ensure their longevity and usability. Unfortunately, humidification is also a notoriously expensive system to purchase and keep well-maintained. These added costs, along with the more modest price of the musical equipment expected to be used, ultimately made building-wide humidification a luxury that could not be justified. Instead, a more economic decision was made to provide a smaller, humidified piano storage room offstage, where their concert piano would reside most of the time.
A final point of note on the mechanical systems relates to energy consumption. There is a temptation, when budgets are tight, to focus purely on initial costs. However, to truly provide the owner with the best building possible, it is critical that the design team weigh the short-term costs against the long-term costs. While the project does have to remain within the budget, there is no benefit for the owner to receive staggeringly high utility bills for the next 20+ years. While a brand new high-efficiency chiller plant is likely outside the range of most high school performing arts centers, there are other efficiency gains that are still within reach. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is intelligent zoning. Where there are sizeable spaces that have significantly different occupancies from adjacent spaces, single zone units are often a worthwhile investment. In this performing arts center, we noted that we used three RTUs for the auditorium. The small one for the seating area addressed conduction at the building skin of 50-100 people, pending time of the year. This covered daily use in the auditorium and allowed the larger RTU for the seating area to remain off except for larger events. A separate unit for the stage provided independence for the stage from the seating areas, which helps as audience sizes don’t always parallel the size of the show. Moreover, not having any of these three units tied to a VAV RTU guaranteed that smaller zones would never drive how the auditorium operated, even without a complicated controls sequence. Once zoning is configured for success, there are any number of hardware and controls sequence benefits that could be considered to further reduce consumption: inverter compressors, demand control ventilation, minimum VAV airflow optimization, and unoccupancy scheduling just to name a few. The list is limited only by the creativity of the engineer and, more importantly, what the owner is able to understand and maintain.
Lights, Camera, Action
Lighting is essential for a performing arts space, and this project was no exception. Our team designed and oversaw the installation of the facility's lighting systems, including controls, architectural, and performance lighting. Our objective was to establish two distinct lighting control systems: one for performance areas and architectural features, and another for the cost-effective general illumination supporting non-performance building spaces.
As with other areas of the design, our team employed creative solutions to stay within budget constraints. We streamlined lighting in school and pre-function areas while dedicating more resources to performance spaces. This resulted in high-grade lighting products in public-facing areas, enriching the overall experience. Despite the complexities of balancing performance and budget, we delivered a lighting design that complemented the facility's architectural aesthetics and supported the dynamic performance lighting needs of the venue.
Comprehensive planning encompassed seating arrangements, sightlines, acoustical performance, and lighting controls. By designing the stage sound and lighting systems as we did, they now provide maximum flexibility for a range of concerts and theatrical productions, supplemented by above-ceiling catwalks for easy rigging system access.
Curtain Call
The successful completion of a high school performing arts center can be a surprisingly daunting task for those approaching it for the first time. However, through meticulous planning, innovative engineering, and a commitment to enhancing the educational and cultural landscape, the critical aspects of the building can all be captured, resulting in a versatile and inspiring venue. The facility we were fortunate to be part of not only elevates the performance capabilities of the school but also serves as a vibrant community hub, embodying the transformative power of the arts. We believe that your building can do the same.