Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center

The Center is a significant change in focus from the traditional focus on this science and engineering campus, although the Darrin Communication Center is similar. The administration claims that "EMPAC introduces a new model for educating the next generation of leaders, who will be better prepared to solve the complex problems facing our world.”^[1]

The design architect for the EMPAC is Grimshaw Architects, London and New York, designers of The Eden Project, the London School of Economics, and International Terminal Waterloo. The architect of record is the New York City architectural firm Davis Brody Bond. The engineers for the project are Buro Happold.

The main concert hall seats 1,200, and has been lauded as one of the most acoustically perfect concert halls in the world. The acoustical firm Kirkegaard Associates was contracted to work on the system. Extensive computer modeling was done of the ceiling canopy before construction to optimize the transmission of sound waves.^[2] EMPAC is the first venue to use Nomex fire-retardant fabric for a ceiling canopy to reflect sound waves.^[3] The exterior of the main concert hall is lined with 36,000 square feet (3,300 m²) of Western Red Cedar. Grown in sustainable forests in British Columbia, the wood was chosen for its fire-retardant properties.^[3] A 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m²) glass wall lines the north side of the building. A water/glycol mix circulating through the steel support beams maintains an even temperature and limits condensation on the glass.^[3] EMPAC is also LEED Silver certified.^[4]

EMPAC is also home to a 400-seat theater with an 80′ x 40′ stage, 60′ fly tower, and computer controlled rigging.^[3] EMPAC also has two very large projection screens: a 50' x 40' one in the theater and a 60' wide screen in the concert hall.^[5] There are two main multi-purpose studio spaces. Studio 1 has 3,500-square-foot (330 m²) and has 40-foot-high ceilings, and Studio 2 is 2,500-square-foot (230 m²) with 28-foot (8.5 m)-high ceilings. There is also a 1,400-square-foot (130 m²) rehearsal studio called Studio Beta, and 4 Artist-in-Residence studios (with one being permanently occupied by the Institute President). Studio 1 and Studio 2 are lined with acoustical panels to diffuse sound using innovative paneling designed to simulate the characteristics of tree bark. Different panels are designed to absorb and refract different frequencies of sound.^[6] All performance spaces have a maximum noise level of 15 dB, making them some of the quietest artistic presentation spaces in the world.^[5]

A 360-degree projection system has been developed, which is used for virtual reality research, art works, and cinematic presentations. The current system has a 40-foot (12 m) round, 15-foot (4.6 m) tall circular screen which surrounds viewers, who either can walk around or view from swivel chairs. Special 360-degree cameras are used for filming, along with microphones which record directionality. The sound can then be played back on an array of surround-sound speakers, allowing sound projection from any angle toward the audience.^[7] EMPAC's first commission, entitled THERE IS STILL TIME..BROTHER, by The Wooster Group, began at EMPAC and then left to tour internationally.

Discover more about Architecture and facilities related topics

Grimshaw Architects

Grimshaw Architects

Grimshaw Architects is an architectural firm based in London. Founded in 1980 by Nicholas Grimshaw, the firm was one of the pioneers of high-tech architecture. In particular, they are known for their design of transport projects including Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA railway station, Waterloo International railway station and the award-winning Southern Cross railway station which was the recipient of the Royal Institute of British Architects Lubetkin Prize. Grimshaw is behind the design of the Sustainability Pavilion, an innovative net-zero building, for Expo 2020. The firm currently has offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Dubai, Melbourne and Sydney, employing over 600 staff.

Eden Project

Eden Project

The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located 2 km (1.2 mi) from the town of St Blazey and 5 km (3 mi) from the larger town of St Austell.

London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidney Webb, Beatrice Webb, Graham Wallas, and George Bernard Shaw, LSE joined the University of London in 1900 and established its first degree courses under the auspices of the university in 1901. LSE began awarding its degrees in its own name in 2008, prior to which it awarded degrees of the University of London. It became a university in its own right within the University of London in 2022.

Waterloo International railway station

Waterloo International railway station

Waterloo International station was the London terminus of the Eurostar international rail service from its opening on 14 November 1994 to its closure on 13 November 2007, when it was replaced by London St Pancras International as the terminal for international rail services. It was on the western side of London Waterloo mainline station but was managed and branded separately.

Davis Brody Bond

Davis Brody Bond

Davis Brody Bond is an American architectural firm headquartered in New York City, New York, with additional offices in Washington, DC and São Paulo, Brazil. The firm is named for Lewis Davis, Samuel Brody, and J. Max Bond Jr. and is led by five partners: Steven M. Davis, William H. Paxson, Carl F. Krebs, Christopher K. Grabé, and David K. Williams.

Buro Happold

Buro Happold

Buro Happold Limited is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the environment. It was founded in Bath, Somerset, in 1976 by Sir Edmund Happold when he took up a post at the University of Bath as Professor of Architecture and Engineering Design.

Kirkegaard Associates

Kirkegaard Associates

Kirkegaard Associates is an American acoustics design firm founded by Lawrence Kirkegaard, based in Chicago, Illinois, with an office in Denver, Colorado. The company is headed by President/Owner Joseph W A Myers and employs 12 professionals in architecture, acoustics, music recording, mechanical and audio engineering, musical and theatrical performance. The company has been involved in the design of theatres, concert halls, opera houses, educational institutions, worship spaces, recording and broadcast studios, and other acoustically sensitive environments.

Nomex

Nomex

Nomex is a flame-resistant meta-aramid material developed in the early 1960s by DuPont and first marketed in 1967.

The founding director of EMPAC is Johannes Goebel, who led it from 2002 through 2022. Prior to EMPAC, Goebel was previously the director and founder of the Institute for Music and Acoustics at the Center for Art and Media Technology (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany. EMPAC's curatorial team includes Victoria Brooks, Senior Curator of Time-Based Visual Arts, Dr. Ashley Ferro-Murray, Senior Curator of Dance and Theater, and Amadeus Julian Regucera, Curator of Music. The founding curatorial team included Kathleen Forde, Curator, Time-Based Arts, Helene Lesterlin, Curator Dance/Theater, and Micah Silver, Curator, Music.

The institute announced plans for the construction of a new performance hall in Fall of 2001 with construction costs originally slated at $50 million.^[8] After a design competition and discussions with architectural firms, the plans were revised with a new construction cost of $141 million and completion date of sometime in 2006.^[9] While some thought that RPI needed improved music and arts facilities, the increased size and construction cost were seen as unnecessarily expensive by many students and faculty.^[10]

"Lights above the Hudson" display, while under construction, January 2008.

The project broke ground on September 19, 2003.^[11] During 2004 the Institute began a large capital campaign and Rensselaer alumnus and trustee Curtis Priem, '82, donated $40 million in an unrestricted gift. RPI decided to officially name the project in his honor.^[12] Additionally, the Institute received a $1 million gift for EMPAC programs from alumnus David Jaffe in 2006.^[13]

Over 100,000 cubic yards of earth were evacuated from the hill to make room for the structure.^[3] RPI has had problems in the past with the instability of the ground on the hillside, a phenomenon known as mass wasting. To prevent the EMPAC from "sliding down the hill", 215 rock anchors were drilled into the ground to stabilize the foundations. At over 210 feet (64 m) long, they are some of the largest anchors in North America.^[3]

In September 2005, the institute hosted EMPAC 360: On Site + Sound, a multimedia and performing arts presentation to celebrate the midpoint of construction. The event was attended by over 3000 people from the region.^[14] The expected completion date was moved to sometime in 2008.^[14] In January 2008, RPI commissioned lighting designer Jennifer Tipton to create a large lighting display called "Light Above the Hudson". Operational for several weeks, the display drew attention to the center with a 300 by 100-foot (30 m) array of multicolored lights and search lights pointed into the sky.^[15]

The grand opening celebrations were held on three weekends from October 3 to October 19, 2008, with all events free to the public. The inaugural concert was programmed by Micah Silver and Johannes Goebel on October 4 and was a seamless concert that included the Albany Symphony Orchestra with pianist Per Tengstrand, the International Contemporary Ensemble and Vox Vocal Ensemble performing spatial music ranging four hundred years of music composition. Performances were also given by the Norwegian group Verdensteatret, the Japanese collective Dumb Type and a duet performance by pianist Cecil Taylor with Pauline Oliveros a poetry reading by Taylor, and a party DJ'd by Madlib. October 11 was alumni weekend and featured Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and October 18 was family weekend and featured Gamelan Galak Tikka, the Ensemble Robot and the Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band. Each weekend also contained numerous lectures and workshops including Johannes Goebel and Pauline Oliveros. Studio 1 Goodman Studio/Theater hosted a special 360-degree film by The Wooster Group entitled There is Still Time..Brother alternating with screenings by Workspace Unlimited.

Discover more about Construction related topics

Curtis Priem

Curtis Priem

Curtis R. Priem is an American computer scientist.

Mass wasting

Mass wasting

Mass wasting, also known as mass movement, is a general term for the movement of rock or soil down slopes under the force of gravity. It differs from other processes of erosion in that the debris transported by mass wasting is not entrained in a moving medium, such as water, wind, or ice. Types of mass wasting include creep, solifluction, rockfalls, debris flows, and landslides, each with its own characteristic features, and taking place over timescales from seconds to hundreds of years. Mass wasting occurs on both terrestrial and submarine slopes, and has been observed on Earth, Mars, Venus, Jupiter's moons Io, and on many other bodies in the Solar System.

Jennifer Tipton

Jennifer Tipton

Jennifer Tipton is an American lighting designer. She has designed for dance, theater, and opera. She is known for working on many productions of American Ballet Theatre.

Albany Symphony Orchestra

Albany Symphony Orchestra

The Albany Symphony Orchestra is a professional symphony orchestra based in Albany, New York.

Per Tengstrand

Per Tengstrand

Per Tengstrand is a Swedish pianist.

International Contemporary Ensemble

International Contemporary Ensemble

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a contemporary classical music ensemble, based in New York City and Chicago. ICE performs a diverse and extensive array of chamber, electro-acoustic, improvisatory, and multimedia works.

Spatial music

Spatial music

Spatial music is composed music that intentionally exploits sound localization. Though present in Western music from biblical times in the form of the antiphon, as a component specific to new musical techniques the concept of spatial music was introduced as early as 1928 in Germany.

Dumb Type

Dumb Type

Dumb Type is an artist collective based in Kyoto, Japan founded in 1984.

Cecil Taylor

Cecil Taylor

Cecil Percival Taylor was an American pianist and poet.

Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music.

Madlib

Madlib

Otis Jackson Jr., known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM, J Dilla, and Freddie Gibbs. Madlib has described himself as a "DJ first, producer second, and MC last." His stage name is an acronym for "Mind Altering Demented Lessons In Beats".

Roy Haynes

Roy Haynes

Roy Owen Haynes is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jazz drumming. "Snap Crackle" was a nickname given to him in the 1950s.

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  "Lights Above the Hudson" display, January 2008

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  Southwest corner of EMPAC grounds

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  East entrance of EMPAC

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  North face of EMPAC with glass façade

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  West face of EMPAC

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  South side of EMPAC

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  Balcony entrances to the main performance hall

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  Grand staircase in EMPAC

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  Founders' Room Balcony overlooking the City of Troy