Archinect - News

Gehry Partners and Mark Cavagnero Associates named to design proposed Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall renovation in San Francisco

2023-10-13T18:29:00-04:00

A plan from Gehry Partners, LLP. and Mark Cavagnero Associates to renovate the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra’s 43-year-old Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall building is moving forward after a proposal was made public for the first time.

In September, the client submitted a proposal to begin the entitlement process for renovations to the SOM and Pietro Belluschi-designed structure. The goal is to make the Symphony “publicly accessible, transparent, and inviting,” according to its press release. The institution says it is still in the exploratory phase of the process and cautions it has yet to commit to a project or submitted any other permits as the concepts are explored further.

San Francisco Symphony Orchestra Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. Image by Drew Altizer/Courtesy of San Francisco Symphony Hall.

Gehry, whose longstanding collaboration with noted acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota will again take centerstage when the expanded Colburn School of Music campus project breaks ground in ...

Snøhetta's St. Louis Symphony Hall renovation and expansion will be music to preservationist ears

2022-03-16T17:10:00-04:00

The historic home of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is about to get a makeover as Snøhetta has been named the lead designer for the expansion and modernization of its Midtown headquarters called Powell Hall.

The new 65,000-square-foot expansion will add space for education programs, a new lobby, and an enhanced backstage area for the orchestra musicians inside the 97-year-old building.

Snøhetta will center the expansion on a newly created welcome plaza that serves as a “lyrical” gateway to the orchestra’s patrons and ensemble members, the latter of which will be able to enjoy a backend addition featuring all-new rehearsal spaces, dressing rooms, recording suites, and much-needed storage areas.

We’re renovating and expanding!

Today marks the start of a new chapter for your SLSO and its historic home, Powell Hall, as we announce the first major renovation and expansion of the space that has been our home for more than 50 years.

Learn more https://t.co/U1SpgVJpKK pic.twitter.com...

Turn like a wheel inside a wheel: Steinmetz Hall is almost ready to move and groove in Orlando

2022-01-11T18:49:00-05:00

Future generations of concertgoers in the Orlando area will want a ticket to commemorate the moment the city’s dynamic new $612 million performance venue makes its theatrical debut at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts this Friday.

Designed by former UCLA faculty member Barton Myers, Steinmetz Hall is a mechanical wonder made even more remarkable by the way its form can be shifted to adapt to one of the building’s myriad uses. The concert hall has a maximum seating capacity of 1,650 and consists of multiple layouts that can be applied to a variety of individual types of musical and artistic performances.

Photo courtesy Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

With help from Gala Systems, Myers created a series of interchangeable components that can be rearranged seamlessly according to need. A retractable acoustic shell is moved in and out of place thanks to 65 feet of track that facilitates the theater’s biggest area of public use as a concert hall. Additional space...

Frank Gehry's new Youth Orchestra Los Angeles facility gets a first sound check

2021-06-01T17:45:00-04:00

The Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Youth Orchestra Los Angeles recently tried out the nearly completed Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center. That is the dilapidated former bank building and Burger King in downtown Inglewood that architect Frank Gehry has transformed into a fabulous performance space and teaching facility for young musicians.

Plans for a Gehry Partners-envisioned permanent home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Youth Orchestra first appeared on Archinect in 2017, followed by more concrete designs for the future Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center in LA's Inglewood neighborhood a year later.

Previously on Archinect: Gehry Partners reveal new design for the LA Phil Youth Orchestra. Aerial model view of the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center @ Inglewood, concert configuration. Photo courtesy of Gehry Partners, LLP.

As with its other Gehry-designed flagship facility, the Walt Disney Concert Hall which opened in Downtown Los Angeles in 2003, LA Phil worked with the team of acclaimed acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota again.

Gehry Partners reveal new design for the LA Phil Youth Orchestra

2018-08-27T18:17:00-04:00

Initially announced last fall, Gehry Partners' design for Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) has now been revealed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The new structure will be the first permanent facility for YOLA located in the Los Angeles neighborhood Inglewood.

Exterior model view of the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center @ Inglewood, interior concert configuration. Photo courtesy of Gehry Partners, LLP.

The 25,000-square-foot, $14.5 million construction project will transform the former branch office of Security Pacific Bank in Inglewood.

Exterior model view of the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center @ Inglewood, interior concert configuration. Photo courtesy of Gehry Partners, LLP.

With the aid of Gehry Partner's new facility, YOLA aims to double the number of students it serves providing free music training and academic support.

Exterior model view of the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center @ Inglewood. Photo courtesy of Gehry Partners, LLP.

Aerial model view of th...

Frank Gehry to design permanent home for LA Phil's Youth Orchestra

2017-11-09T20:28:00-05:00

Among major initiatives announced for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s centennial year is the creation of a new permanent YOLA center to be designed by Frank Gehry. The famed architect will transform an existing facility, located in the LA suburb of Inglewood, into a central resource for the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles program.

“The LA Phil is the first orchestra anywhere to take such an enormous step for the future of its community. Thanks to the time I’ve spent with Gustavo, I’ve seen the difference that YOLA makes in young people’s lives. I’m proud to play my part by making spaces where the kids can feel inspired, and YOLA can open up the whole world of music to them" said Gehry.

YOLA currently serves about 1,000 students across the Los Angeles area. The center will be a hub for fostering a greater number of young people who aspire to careers in music, helping to achieve the LA Phil’s goal of doubling the number of students they serve by 2022.

...

After Yo-Yo Ma's plea, Point Counterpoint II, Louis Kahn floating concert hall, may be saved after all

2017-07-19T14:14:00-04:00

Officials and activists in the Hudson River town of Kingston, N.Y., plan to meet with the boat's owner Aug. 4 to discuss the possibility of transporting the vessel there from its current berth on the Illinois River in Ottawa, Ill. Late last month, musicians performed aboard the boat in the town, some 80 miles southwest of Chicago.

Last week Archinect reported that Yo-Yo Ma sent a letter out through the New York Review of Books in an attempt to save the floating concert hall, designed by Louis Kahn, from demolition. The famed cellist pleaded: "At a time when our national conversation is so often focused on division, we can ill afford to condemn to the scrap heap such a vibrant ambassador for our national unity, so I humbly ask that your readers join Robert and me in finding a new home for Point Counterpoint II." After five decades of running the barge, the owners, Robert Boudreau and wife Kathleen, have decided to retire their duties as caretakers and have been struggling to find a new proprietor for the ship. However, with a little help from Yo-Yo Ma, they may have found the vessel a new home in Kingston, NY.

Reportedly, Hutton Brickyards is being considered as the floating venue's new home. The former industrial site that supplied bricks to New York City up until the 80s was acquired by California-based deve...

Louis Kahn's floating concert hall, Point Counterpoint II, is facing demolition, and Yo-Yo Ma wants it saved

2017-07-13T16:02:00-04:00

Anchoring in large cities and small towns, in busy shipping lanes and at public parks, the barge opens like a clamshell to reveal a glittering concert stage. Audiences on shore delight in the music, much of it specially composed for Maestro Boudreau and his American Wind Symphony Orchestra

Louis Kahn was commissioned to design Point Counterpoint II, a unique floating concert hall, by conductor Robert Austin Boudreau in the mid 1960s. Launched in 1976, the 195-foot structure carried an orchestra up and down America's waterways for five decades. Robert Boudreau and his wife, Kathleen, have recently decided that they cannot keep running the barge. At the conclusion of the Orchestra's 2017 tour, it will be broken down to scrap in a Louisiana shipyard—despite the owner's best efforts to find a new guardian for the unique, mobile cultural institution.

Drawing of Point Counterpoint II, by Louis Kahn

Point Counterpoint II, Photo courtesy of American Wind Symphony Orchestra

Point Counterpoint II, Photo by josepha on Flickr

Point Counterpoint II, Photo courtesy of American Wind Symphony Orchestra

Yo-Yo Ma, a French-born Chinese American cellist, recently wrote about his admiration for Point Counterpoint II, i...