Mission StatementBoard of DirectorsAnnual GrantmakingRecent GrantsFields of InterestDonor Information

Background

The Need

the opportunity

The Research

Funding

Programming

Governance and Operations

Ownership and Maintenance

Commonly Asked Questions

 

 

A. Design Approach & Process

At the start of the project, the architects worked with the owners and various user groups to establish the goals, objectives and priorities for the facility, defining the principles for the development of the site, building and theatre design criteria, that help guide the project through the design process.

Collaborative Work Sessions with Owners:

  • New Albany-Plain Local School District
  • Village of New Albany
  • New Albany Community Foundation
  • Plain Township
  • The New Albany Company

Programming Work Sessions with User Groups (from both New Albany and the Columbus area):

  • New Albany Ballet Company
  • New Albany Arts Council
  • New Albany Community Foundation
  • CAPA
  • Ballet Met Columbus Dance Academy
  • Broadway Bound Dance Centre

Establishing Building Principles

    • The New Albany PAC will be a premier educational facility that encourages economic growth in the community
    • The building will have its own identity but tied into what has been done in the community, the school campus and the village center
    • The New Albany PAC will be a real community center for the village and township, making people feel like they are a part of the community
    • New Albany PAC will be the “window to the world of arts”
    • The New Albany PAC will be a gateway to the community
    • Create a unified design and campus identity for the school and community
    • Establish a sense of place and community

B. SITE & Building PLANNING

Sited on the gentle slope of a sprawling lawn that defines the overall school campus, the building reinforces the existing topography and rural environment, while establishing a strong figural presents in the open space.

Site Principles

      • Landscape, was an important program element in the initial planning for the facility
      • It is a unique site, visible from all four directions.
      • The building reinforces the existing topography and distinctive rural environment
      • Building will reinforce and frame views to surrounding landscape
      • Preserving the green space (lawn) along Dublin-Granville Road was very important.
      • The High School Library acts as an anchor on the west end of the lawn, while the performing arts center will create a strong terminus to the east.
      • Linking the existing school buildings and pedestrian circulation to the facility was also important

Building Function & Aesthetics

  • The building will have interior and exterior spaces to gather before/after a performance/event
  • Exterior open spaces are just as important as interior spaces
      • Producing/designing a building that does not have a “back” was challenging, given its location and prominence on the site.
      • The Building was planned, positioned and designed to look out onto the lawn. 
      • Early on, the idea of the Lobby as a “porch” developed and it became quite open and transparent – enhancing visibility from the outside as people and activities take place inside.
      • In designing the Lobby, we wanted to make it as open as possible, being both visually and physically accessible to the community was important.
      • It is our hope that the Lobby will perhaps become a symbolic center/space or living room for the community.
  • Like the Library at Market Street – the performing arts center building will also be another Civic center, reaching out to the community.

Interior Spaces

      • Quality of programming, experience and the acoustics has been important in the overall design.
      • Providing an opportunity to display visual arts, a gallery/exhibition type space in the Lobby was also incorporated
      • The theater will feel quite intimate whether it occupies an audience of seven hundred or one-hundred people.

C. BUILDING DESIGN ELEMENTS

The 35,000 sq. ft. building will accommodate a 750-seat proscenium theatre, a rehearsal room, a dance studio, a range of stage and performer support spaces, classrooms and an event lobby that will also serve as a gallery space.

Westlake Reed Leskosky’s design consists of three distinct elements; each with a unique identity marked by its own geometric form, material and roof line.

Like most of the existing campus and civic buildings found in New Albany, the main octagon-shaped theatre (audience chamber) and stage house are brick masonry volumes.

Stage and performance support spaces as well as an educational classroom are designed within two volumes clad in white clapboard and wood panels, which relate to the school’s Administration Building to the north and are more residential in scale.  The Rehearsal Room volume is positioned on the orthogonal geometry of the existing campus buildings and serves as an anchor or terminus, linking the existing school buildings and student circulation to the facility.

The orientation and massing of the transparent elliptical-shaped Lobby links these distinct programming spaces on one level and provides natural light throughout the day with views out to the surrounding landscape.  At night, the lobby becomes a glowing beacon and living room for the community, used for gathering, performances and special events.

The main formal entrance is from the west side, where several existing mature trees have been preserved and define the outdoor terrace and entry portico that will be used as an outdoor gathering space before and after an event.  This West Dependency includes an entry vestibule, box office and concessions area. There is also a second entrance from the north, which will be used on a daily basis by students and will serve as the front door to the school campus.  The East Dependency includes Lobby support space as well as the main Restrooms for the facility.

The design of the building has been carefully scaled and articulated to strengthen and preserve existing campus and community scales and patterns.

D. THEATRE (Audience Chamber) DESIGN

Acoustics
The acoustical requirements for the room were critical, particularly for the students.  The theatre has been designed as a multi-use facility for music, dance and theatre.  Each of these art forms required their own special natural acoustic environments and so, the theatre has been designed with the ability to vary the acoustic environment for each of these presentations.

Theatre (Room) Shape
The octagon plan was inspired by earlier theatre precedents and is a characteristic form of the American “Opera House” of the period just after the end of the Civil War.  The surviving 19th century theatres with this type of plan have a nice balance between formality and playfulness, and so it’s a pleasant, intimate shape for the type of community facility envisioned for New Albany.

Materials
In order to provide outstanding natural musical acoustic results, the perimeter walls of the theatre have been designed and will be constructed of a hard, dense terra cotta clay tile, which has a deep red appearance.  Maple wood will be used throughout the interior to accent several important elements in the room, which will provide a sense of warmth and intimacy.