Award

courtesy Pfeiffer Partners Architects Bella Concert Hall and Conservatory by Jerry Eberts he Bella Concert Hall in the new Conservatory will be a graceful and popular addition to Calgary's Mount Royal University. It is also a fitting tribute to Mary Belle Taylor, the much-loved local matriarch known as Bella. "The site we were given was a parking lot at the front door of the university," says Bill Murray of Pfeiffer Partners Architects Inc. Pfeiffer's team for the Bella Concert Hall and Conservatory included Kevin O'Brien, Norman Pfeiffer (exterior of building) and Jordan Levin (project manager). Murray was in charge of the concert hall design and overall project. Pfeiffer also worked closely with Sahuri + Partners Architecture Inc. The final design incorporates approximately 750 seats in the concert hall, a multi-purpose performing and rehearsal space, teaching studios, Xmaster class teaching studios, ensemble studios administration and performer support space. In addition there is an early childhood music suite. The multipurpose space is a performance space accessible to the public and placed within a projection of the building, that helps anchor the entire project from a design point of view. O'Brien describes the new conservatory as "a contemporary building. The entry is full of glass, allowing lots of light into the lobby, with views of the Rocky Mountains and downtown Calgary." Planning for this section of the university campus was part of a larger micro-master plan for this quadrant of the campus, with the public entrance for the hall on the east side and a connecting T Bella Concert Hall and Conservatory p54-57Bella.indd 55 entrance to the Centre for Continuous Learning, says Murray. "There were budget challenges and the challenge of coordinating the design of so many consultants," says Levin. "But overall we have had few difficulties implementing the project." With a completion date of December, 2014, the building continues apace. But the public opening is slated for April, 2015. "We used box-in-box construction," says Murray. "This was the best way to isolate sounds with many smaller rehearsal spaces and so on. The hall, due to its size and complexity, was really designed from the inside-out." "We had great backers," says David Docherty, president of Mount Royal University. "We received funding from the federal government, the province, the City of Calgary and an extraordinarily generous donation of $20 million from the Taylor family." Docherty says the university's team worked closely with the architectural and construction teams to keep costs to a minimum, though this LEED Goldcertified conservatory and concert hall will be a literal showcase when it is completed. Fabrizio Carinelli, president of CANA Construction, describes the new hall as a unique, one-of-a-kind structure in Calgary. "There is a lot of mass and a lot of concrete. We worked on preconstruction for a year before we began work on the ground, but we are on schedule and on budget so far. It's been a very collaborative effort, with the trades involved early on, working with the designers." Carinelli says the sloping site means "there isn't a right angle in the whole building. All the forming is unique. We have to rebuild the forms each time we do a pour." Structural engineer on this project was Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. and Mark Ritchie worked as project engineer. "In context, the interior structure has been designed to resemble a barn structure, inspired by early Prairie barns of 100 years ago," says Murray. Another invaluable member of the team was Steve Pollock, theatre consultant and principal with Auerbach Pollock Friedlander. "This is one of the most complex music rooms we have helped to create and, we believe, it will be one of the finest music venues in North America," says Pollock. "Auerbach Pollock Friedlander provided theatre consulting services for the building with a focus on large rehearsal venues and the Bella Concert Hall. Our work began with programming and planning, and progressed to the design of seating and sightlines, rigging and variable acoustics systems, and performance lighting," adds Pollock. "The project commenced in early 2011 with programming and planning meetings with music department leaders, as well as other faculty and staff," he says. "Potential outside key-users also participated in the process to help the project team understand better the requirements needed when the facilities would be rented. "Designing a facility that meets the needs of such a wide age range of users was a unique opportunity, but the jewel of the project is the Bella Concert Hall. Incorporating the tilted overhead acoustic banners into the elegant woven wire swags, basic to the design of the auditorium, was an unusual challenge that produced exceptional esthetic and functional results." Rick Wells, principal with MultiMedia Consulting Inc., designed the audiovisual and control systems for the hall, as well as adjacent studios. "We had to design the various systems for a variety of arts," says Wells. "Everything had to be designed for multiple purposes. And it is a stateof-the-art system, with self-powered and self-processed loudspeakers, and Yamaha digital control systems simplified for ease of use. "Our great challenge was creating the concert hall function that could also be used as a multipurpose hall." Richard Talaske, president and principal acoustics consultant at TALASKE, adds that when it came to the acoustics his team integrated the needed acoustic volume differently at the Bella versus other halls. "Since the architect wanted tilted upper walls, which we embraced, the room ended up taller than most of our other spaces," explains Talaske. Talaske says that equipment systems will be present to expose or retract a considerable area of sound absorbing banners, curtains and panels. "These have been carefully integrated into the architectural design," adds Talaske. "Via computer control, this adjustable acoustics feature will allow for the accommodation of many types of events. For example, with sound absorbing finishes retracted, the room will offer beautiful reverberance to enhance orchestra and october 2013    /55 13-09-16 10:01 AM

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