VelvetJ Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 ASO's new Symphony Center design unveiled The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has revealed the ultra-modern architectural design for its planned new $300 million Atlanta Symphony Center. The project was designed by renowned architect, artist and engineer Santiago Calatrava. The 279,600-square-foot structure will sit on a 3.8 acre site at Peachtree and 14th streets. The Concert Hall will feature 34,000 square feet of performance and public space and 41,000 square feet of backstage support space. The hall will be surrounded by 2,000 vineyard-style seats, including 200 seats for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. It will have an operable ceiling, adjustable in height from 48 feet to 104 feet above the stage to provide variable acoustics. The Studio Hall will have 5,300 square feet of performance and public space, 3,200 square feet of backstage support space and seating for 300. The Rehearsal Hall is slated for 5,000 square feet of performance and public space, 9,000 square feet of backstage space and seating for 300 to 350. Plans also call for an 11,000-square-foot Learning Center and 41,800 square feet of lobby space, which includes including food and beverage service areas, coat check, ticket office and gift shop. "The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has been a truly visionary client," Calatrava said. "From the beginning, it has known what it wants to achieve -- not only an exceptional concert hall, literally formed around the orchestra, but a building in which people can recognize the singularity of their city and state and take pride in them." Calatrava's design enfolds expanses of glass and steel within gently curving shells of gleaming white concrete. Public areas in and around the building, notably a pair of light-filled lobbies, open onto landscaped plazas. The lower plaza provides an entrance for visitors who arrive by car. The upper, which serves as a public gathering place and lookout, connects the building to a ceremonial run of trees via an elevated walkway. Rising from behind the structure and then swooping down, as if reaching toward Peachtree Street, are two "bent leaves" of lattice-like steel. The smaller of these marks a side entrance on a terrace. The larger, which tops the structure at 186 feet, gives dramatic definition to the building's central axis. The movable steel "wings" of a sunscreen will open and close over the soaring, glazed volume of the upper lobby. Midtown Alliance President Susan Mendheim said the new Symphony Center is another major anchor that clearly defines Midtown as a destination center. Mendheim noted that the new hall's distinctive arching "bent leaves" made of steel and the wing-like projections soaring over the main entrance will probably make the hall an important architectural landmark for Atlanta. "The new design may well cause Symphony Hall to become an architectural icon like the Sydney Opera House or Atlanta's own High Museum of Art," Mendheim said. The ASO began its work to create the Atlanta Symphony Center in 1999. In March 2000, the Woodruff Arts Center bought a 6.2-acre plot at the corner of Peachtree and 14th streets. The ASO selected Hines Interests as its partner to create a mixed-use development. An office tower developed by Hines and designed by architect Jon Pickard is currently rising at the Peachtree Street end of the site. The remaining 3.8-acre portion of land was set aside for the Atlanta Symphony Center. As reported Feb. 8, the ASO's campaign to raise money for the project has neared the $100 million mark in gifts and pledges received, thanks in part to the doubling to $35 million, of a pledge from the Blank Foundation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New, dramatic look unveiled for future Atlanta Symphony Center By CATHERINE FOX, PIERRE RUHE Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 02/09/05 It's a monumental white sculpture capped by a soaring arch. It's acclaimed architect Santiago Calatrava's dramatic design for the future Atlanta Symphony Center. And it might just become a symbol for a New South city searching for an enduring identity. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which Wednesday night unveils the design for its 3.8-acre site at 14th and Peachtree streets, has a lot riding on Calatrava's plan. The orchestra, which aspires to be world class, has enhanced its status in the last five years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Very cool.What are vineyard-style seats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Nice! And we have - oh yeah..the Wortham... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Very cool.What are vineyard-style seats?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Answering my own question since I have the patience of a horney rabbit... vineyard-style seating is terraced and surrounds the stage on at least three sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamtagon Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 "The new design may well cause Symphony Hall to become an architectural icon like the Sydney Opera House or Atlanta's own High Museum of Art," Mendheim said.This is a pretty crazy statement. Atlanta's own High Museum of Art is not an architectural icon. It's the only big museum in the city. The galleries provide exhabition space with a nice flow, but on no reasonable grounds could the structure be comapred to the Sydney Opera House or any other notable architectural icon. I doubt that a majority of Atlanta area residents would be able to name the place if shown a photo. Futhermore, a visit to this museum offers a very shallow exposure to fine art.Anyway, the buzz around town regarding the new symphony hall is pretty big. Post-Olympic enthusiasm in the quest for Atlanta to become a World Class City is swelling with this project (along with a new $200 million aquarium). I'm no long-hair classical music expert or anything, but I went to several symphony performances in Dallas' Meyerson, and was overwhelmed every time by how good music can sound in a place designed specifically for the listener. Every big city needs a bad-ass symphony hall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 We have a good symphony..but our hall is..BORING! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greystone08(returns) Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Oh that's some architecture. I have to go back and see it when its finished Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennethColeSRG Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 Atlanta is truly a site to see this days in terms of architecture and will be even more so in the coming years. Even in the midst of the recession a few years ago, Atlanta was going through a building boom, and the center city has never looked better. The only negative is the 17th Street Bridge, which was originally envisioned to be a grand "signature" structure corssing the vast Downtown Connector (Interstates 75 & 85) but the state Dept. of Transportation decided to go cheap instead and basically built little more than an overpass on steriods...which was made even more hideous when they painted the whole thing CANARY YELLOW. Wags in town now refer to the bridge as "Big Bird". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VelvetJ Posted February 23, 2005 Author Share Posted February 23, 2005 I think Atlanta has taken Houston's place in terms of being on the cutting edge of architecture and in a sense in general. I think our cutting edge, progressive, risk taking, innovative spirited days are behind us. IMO, with the exception of Enron II, the architectural designs in Houston have taken the "conservative/cheapest way" route. I felt this way even before the financial cutbacks due to 9/11. Atlanta's designs have been taking my breathe away, and the future towers about to go up are some of my favorite in years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banking214 Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 I think Atlanta has taken Houston's place in terms of being on the cutting edge of architecture and in a sense in general. I think our cutting edge, progressive, risk taking, innovative spirited days are behind us. IMO, with the exception of Enron II, the architectural designs in Houston have taken the "conservative/cheapest way" route. I felt this way even before the financial cutbacks due to 9/11. Atlanta's designs have been taking my breathe away, and the future towers about to go up are some of my favorite in years.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I agree. Houston's leaders need to take the progressive curve they did in the mid 80s'. Houston needs something that stands out, that makes people think, that makes people want to come and visit. I hope any expansion to the museum of fine arts would be something that does this. The Beck is nice, just rather bland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 Along with the Beck and Hobby Center, the new downtown cathedral is another blown opportunity for some good local architecture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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