Atlanta’s new Symphony Center takes Shape, Will Change Shape

In recent months, more details have been emerging about the future home of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO). Symphony Center, scheduled to open in 2008, will house a 2,000 seat symphony hall and a smaller chamber hall. What's raising eyebrows is the main hall's plan for a raise-able ceiling, which can lifted from a 50-foot "chamber" setting to higher "Mozart," "Mahler," and even 100-foot "cathedral" settings. The rest of the Center will consist of a 41-story office tower, ground level retail, and a public plaza and green space. Although the external design of the Hall (being developed by noted architect Santiago Calatrava) is not ready for public display, sketches of the tower and models of the hall have been unveiled in recent weeks in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The plans for commercial part of the development, to be located at 14th. & Peachtree Streets in Atlanta's Midtown neighborhood, have been changing as market conditions for office, residential and retail uses keep changing.

However, the ASO has insisted on designing the concert hall itself from the inside out -- starting with the acoustics. The primary motivation for moving from its current home at the nearby Woodruff Arts Center is to drastically improve their acoustic environment. Top acoustician Larry Kirkegaard and theater consultant Len Auerbach were hired to drive the hall design, and they were given the challenge to make the acoustics the best in the world.

The moveable ceiling will help create the best sound environments for widely varying types of music and volume levels. When it comes to the variety of performances that will take place inside, "one size" definitely does NOT "fit all"!

Along with the innovative moveable ceiling, the hall will feature "vineyard" or "semi-surround" seating, advanced & upgrade-able audio and video technologies, accessible seat and aisle layouts -- and a prominent space to hold the ASO's acclaimed chorus.

The project is expensive -- some reports mention a price tag of as much as $300 million -- and risky. But according to ASO President Allison Vulgamore, "When you're dealing with artistic excellence, you're always on the edge."

In a related article [see also current Vibrations article on the New York Philharmonic's plans to move to Carnegie Hall], AJC music critic Pierre Ruhe reflects on the links between the ASO's project and the New York Philharmonic's coming change of venue. The common themes? 1. Acoustics matter most. ("For an organization whose basic commodity is sound, this is worth repeating.") 2. Performing arts centers have run their course. ("A proud, stand-alone marquee building feels more chic than a mixed-use, suburban mall type of complex.")

Visit the ASO and their recently updated Symphony Center site

Read the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) articles:

• March 25, 2003 article re: tower
• May 15, 2003 article re: radical hall design
• June 15, 2003, Pierre Ruhe column re: New York Philharmonic & ASO

Search for all related AJC coverage

Observe (via web cam) construction activity at nearby Woodruff Arts Center, where the Atlanta College of Art and the High Museum of Art are both involved in major expansions.