Seabury Hall Creative Arts Center, a prep-school performing arts center on Maui in Hawaii, received the United States Institute for Theatre Technology's (USITT) highest architecture award—the Honor Award.
Three other venues—the SF Jazz Center, Bing Concert Hall, and Jerome Robbins Theater—received Merit Awards for 2014.
USITT's Architecture Commission presented the awards in a special session on March 28 at the USITT 2014 Annual Conference & Stage Expo in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Architecture Commission annually recognizes the best contemporary performance spaces built or renovated in recent years with Honor or Merit awards.
The Seabury Hall Creative Arts Center was designed by Flansburgh Architects, Boston, with associate architect Riecke Sunnland Kono Architects Ltd. of Kahului, Hawaii, and theatre consulting by Theatre Projects Consultants, South Norwalk, Conn.
Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University. Photo: Jeff-Goldberg/Esto
The $5.4 million arts center replaced an outdated facility with a new 500-seat theater and dance rehearsal hall on the grounds of Seabury Hall, a college preparatory school for performing arts students set on the high slopes of the Haleakala volcano on East Maui.
The architects used a steel shed structure for the theater, with wide barn doors that open the space to the natural environment overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The pre-fabricated construction of the theater and dance rehearsal pavilion kept the cost low. The project was completed in September 2012.
Two of the Merit winners are California projects—the SF Jazz Center in San Francisco and the Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University. The third is the renovation of a former rental roadhouse at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York into the Jerome Robbins Theater.
The $75 million Bing Concert Hall was designed by Ennead Architects, New York, with theater consulting by Fisher Dachs and acoustical consulting by Nagata Acoustics. It was constructed at a cost of $75 million as the new home to the university's music department and a venue for visiting performers serving the greater San Francisco Bay Area community.
SF Jazz Center, San Francisco. Photo: Tim Griffiths
The SF Jazz Center was designed by Mark Cavagnero Associates, San Francisco, with consulting by Auerbach Pollock Friedlander and SIA Acoustics, at a cost of $32 million. It is the first freestanding venue in the United States designed especially for jazz. The three-story center is comprised of the Robert N. Miner Auditorium, which accommodates 350 to 800 seats, plus a lab, rehearsal space, box office, café, and offices.
The Jerome Robbins Theater at the Baryshnikov was formerly known as Theatre C, and is now a 299-seat, end-stage theater and main performance space completed in 2010. The architect was Wasa/Studio A, with Arup/David Taylor as theatre and acoustical consultant.
USITT's Architecture Awards are chosen based on creativity, contextual resonance, functional operation, use of new technology, and community contribution. Each project will be represented in a special exhibit at Stage Expo, where an awards reception will be held.
The adjudicators for the 2014 awards included architect Buzz Yudell of Moore Ruble Yudell Architects, theater consultant Robert Long of Theatre Consultants Collaborative, and Rick Talaske of Talaske Associates. Architecture Commission Vice-Chair William Murray oversaw the adjudication process.
Jerome Robbins Theater, New York. Photo: courtesy JRT
Related Stories
Sponsored | | Oct 29, 2014
Historic Washington elementary school incorporates modular design
More and more architects and designers are leveraging modern modular building techniques for expansion projects planned on historical sites. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Oct 26, 2014
Study asks: Do green schools improve student performance?
A study by DLR Group and Colorado State University attempts to quantify the student performance benefits of green schools.
| Oct 21, 2014
Check out BD+C's GreenZone Environment Education Classroom debuting this week at Greenbuild
At the conclusion of the show, the modular classroom structure will be moved to a permanent location in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward, where it will serve as a community center and K-12 classroom.
| Oct 16, 2014
Perkins+Will white paper examines alternatives to flame retardant building materials
The white paper includes a list of 193 flame retardants, including 29 discovered in building and household products, 50 found in the indoor environment, and 33 in human blood, milk, and tissues.
Sponsored | | Oct 16, 2014
Mill Brook Elementary School colors outside the lines with creative fire-rated framing solution
Among the building elements contributing to the success of the elementary school’s public learning areas is a fire-rated stairwell that supports the school’s vision for collaboration. HMFH Architects designed the stairwell to be bright and open, reflecting the playful energy of students. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Oct 15, 2014
Harvard launches ‘design-centric’ center for green buildings and cities
The impetus behind Harvard's Center for Green Buildings and Cities is what the design school’s dean, Mohsen Mostafavi, describes as a “rapidly urbanizing global economy,” in which cities are building new structures “on a massive scale.”
| Oct 12, 2014
AIA 2030 commitment: Five years on, are we any closer to net-zero?
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the American Institute of Architects’ effort to have architecture firms voluntarily pledge net-zero energy design for all their buildings by 2030.
| Oct 9, 2014
Regulations, demand will accelerate revenue from zero energy buildings, according to study
A new study by Navigant Research projects that public- and private-sector efforts to lower the carbon footprint of new and renovated commercial and residential structures will boost the annual revenue generated by commercial and residential zero energy buildings over the next 20 years by 122.5%, to $1.4 trillion.
| Sep 29, 2014
Living Building vs. LEED Platinum: Comparing the first costs and savings
Skanska USA's Steve Clem breaks down the costs and benefits of various ultra-green building standards and practices.
| Sep 24, 2014
Architecture billings see continued strength, led by institutional sector
On the heels of recording its strongest pace of growth since 2007, there continues to be an increasing level of demand for design services signaled in the latest Architecture Billings Index.
