School of Performing Arts, University of Central Florida
Posted
06/29/2011
School of Performing Arts, University of Central
Florida, Orlando, Fla.
The 75,000-square-foot School of Performing
Arts completes the first of a two-phase Performing
Arts Master Plan commissioned by the University
of Central Florida. It will accommodate the
school's expanding cultural curriculum, while also
strengthening the visual and physical links between
the institution and the surrounding city of Orlando.
The master planning
strategy unites the original ordering principle-a series of
concentric rings radiating outward from a central cluster
of native trees known as the "cypress dome"-with a new
campus gateway along a newly defined axis of public spaces. It
creates a unified face for the community while maintaining the
individual identity of the academic departments.
Completed, the 250,000-square-foot complex will
include four performance venues-a 650-seat Concert Hall,
550-seat Proscenium Theater, 225-seat Lecture/Recital Hall,
and a 200-seat Black Box Theater-and two academic wings for
the Music and Theater Departments.
Completed for the Fall 2010 semester, the Phase One
academic buildings house large dance and acting studios,
rehearsal spaces for orchestra and chorus, individual practice
rooms and faculty offices. Two main challenges
were faced-providing the technically specific
acoustic proportions and separation for the teaching
and rehearsal rooms while maintaining a
responsive aesthetic for future phase construction.
Courtyard façades were considered "finished" edges, while
surrounding exterior façades, pending addition of Phase II
programs, were considered "temporal" edges.
Similar to music or dance notation, the "finished" façades
express the program zones in massing and material-brick, zinc
and insulated metal panels. Each is detailed to note the
quirky syncopation of the individual rooms
behind-a concept of architectural notation. The project
features 18,081 square feet of single-skin zinc
vertical reveal panels in Preweathered Blue Gray
from RHEINZINK America Inc., and 8,707 square feet
of Formawall Horizontal Flat 2-inch metal panels
from CENTRIA in Bone White.
Owner: University of Central Florida
General contractor: Balfour Beatty
Construction, Orlando
Design architect: Duda/Paine Architects
LLP, Durham, N.C.
Architect of record: HKS Architects Inc.,
Orlando
Zinc panel fabricator: MetalTech-USA, Peachtree
City, Ga.
Metal panel installer: Cladding Systems Inc.,
Tampa, Fla.
Metal wall panels: CENTRIA, Moon Township,
Pa., www.centria.com, Circle #65, and RHEINZINK America
Inc., Woburn, Mass., www.rheinzink.com, Circle #66