View Full Version : [Omaha] Holland Performing Arts Center - The Polshek Partnership + HDR Architecture
Holland Performing Arts Center
The Polshek Partnership in collaboration with HDR Architecture
Omaha, Nebraska
2,000 and 450 seats
2005
Recently featured in this month's Architectural Record journal. I thought this was as good as time of any to post this, hopefully with a little more depth than the article can show...
Quoted from the Polshek Partnership's website:
The Holland Performing Arts Center is a new 2,000-seat symphony hall for the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. This world-class music hall is the physical embodiment of the City's commitment to and passion for the musical arts. It will extend the reach of the ballet, symphony and opera, attracting audiences from the immediate community and the region. The Symphony's new home is the first structure in a planned cultural complex for downtown Omaha. As an anchor to this nascent arts district, the building serves to create an urban icon for Omaha and a new dynamic identity for the OSO. The elevated lobby of the symphony hall provides a visual connection between the neighboring park and the courtyard enclosed within the building. The design gives physical expression to the OSO as a cultural destination through the use of glass and lighting to create an accessible and inviting presence. Teaching and performance spaces include a 2000-seat concert hall, a flexible 450-seat chamber music hall and a semi-enclosed outdoor performance and event garden. The multi-level lobby accommodates a variety of uses including exhibitions, retail and a café. Amenities include a donors' lounge and green room. Back of house functions include dressing and rehearsal rooms, administrative offices, loading docks and the mechanical, electrical and storage facilities required to support all types and scales of performance.
Travel Directions:
An easily accessible site, the Holland Performing Arts Center is located on the corner of 13th and Douglas. No subway system exists in Omaha, however, it is a short walk from all downtown hotels. It is conveniently located on the Gene Leahy Mall that connects Omaha's downtown to the Missouri riverfront.
From the HDR website (http://www.hdrinc.com):
The Holland Performing Arts Center was designed to become a commanding symbol of Omaha's commitment to the performing arts, and is the most recent expression of the city's ongoing cultural renaissance. This compelling new building will enhance the downtown community, reinforce civic pride, and attract local and regional audiences.
Realization of such a facility required the talents of architects, engineers, acousticians and theatrical consultants working harmoniously to create a landmark structure and world-class concert hall for Omaha's revitalized downtown. The center's design team is a collaboration between HDR and Polshek Partnership Architects. They are joined by acoustic consultants Kirkegaard Associates and theater consultants Fisher Dachs Associates.
While legendary concert halls inspired the design team, the 175,000-square-foot Holland Performing Arts Center is obviously a 21st-century facility. Located in downtown Omaha on a double-block along 13th Street between Douglas and Dodge Streets and across from Omaha's Gene Leahy Mall, a beautifully landscaped linear urban park, the building is clad in zinc, copper and glass and elevated above the ground plane. The center is capped by a clerestory of glass, which fills the concert hall with natural light during the day and glows like an inviting beacon at night.
Concert goers ascend a grand staircase overlooking the main lobby and landscaped courtyard. The staircase gives the feeling of "rising to the occasion" as patrons proceed up the stairs and into the concert hall. The main concert hall, which seats 1,000 at orchestra level, 400 on the mezzanine and 600 in the upper balcony, is a contemporary interpretation of a shoebox hall. The narrow shape provides clarity and intimacy to the sound, allowing full, rich reverberation. Hand-crafted plaster wall panels are used for diffusion purposes. The hall is designed for varied programming; acoustic conditions can be modified to suit different performance types and a series of moveable platforms carried on three stage lifts allows various types of presentations, from a solo performer to a large orchestra. Sycamore and maple wood finishes lend a feeling of warmth and intimacy.
Other performance and teaching spaces include a flexible 450-seat recital hall and a semi-enclosed outdoor courtyard. The recital hall is a flexible "black box" space that can be used as a banquet or rehearsal space. And with a capacity of 1,000, the courtyard is a third performance venue as well as an ideal place for outdoor receptions and events.
The Holland Performing Arts Center represents Omaha's commitment to and passion for the performing arts. It will attract audiences from the community and the region to see world-renowned artists and entertainers in one exquisitely conceived facility.
main perspective from 13th and Douglas:
a similar night shot: the "beacon" at the top is the clearstory of channel glass in the main concert hall. The building was suggested to enliven the night scene and blur the line between the urban fabric of outdoors and indoors...
...and the interior main concert hall with the channel glazing around the upper perimeter.
another of the main hall...
...and before I show you any of my pics, here's a few sections to help understand a bit more of the space. Forgive my lack of togetherness, but I will find the plans when I can...
Alright: time for my response and some more details of the exterior and interior. This was my first glimpse of the building walking up Douglas from 12th street and Leahy Mall. The weathering of the metal panels on the east side of the building caught my attention right away...
moving more towards the front, I realized that 12th street becomes a part of the building and serves as a valet/dropoff area for vehicles as well as some access to the loading area of the building. the indented curtainwall at second level allows for a controlled exterior space for smaller events...
at the main entry off of Douglas street, a series of volumes and spaces (and unfortunately a poor banner) collide to set off the entry from the rest of the facade.
...one of my corner shots, as you have seen in some of the earlier posts, but just a bit closer.
approaching the building and looking back east, I started to notice the details of the glass at the urban edge of the building...
here a detail of the ground meeting the edge of the glazing...and noting the mechanical fin coils.
looking up to see the structural bracing of the glass...the pre-patinated copper paneling was a very nice accent throughout the main space (both inside and out).
stepping inside and looking right back outside, the only sense of transition to interior space is the building above and the revolving doors...
facing the street is the box office and behind it, the main concert hall.
additional interior "main street" shots:
I loved the separation of the stair vertically through the space in which it occupies...the slight reveal above is fabulous...
Within the building is a courtyard for smaller, exterior events.
another of the main space.
and a slight turn to the right...
another of the separation of the pre-concert space and the box office from the main hall...the quality of light is very nice.
one of the very rare glimpses of the hall upstairs. Of course, you get to see these spaces when there is an event, but, alas, you cannot go places for long on just any old day...
So I do not have many shots of the curtainwall system upstairs, but I do have a few shots of the glass staircase...
and a poorly placed sign after I left the building...
I leave you with a professional shot as the last one.
I highly recommend seeing a show here...but avoid the upper seats, as the camber of the floor in those seats slope both out from the center to the left and right walls as well as front to back. Along the sides you end up sitting 4 to 5 inches inches below your date...and you can only imagine the arm rests and how they align...
The sound, on the other hand, is quite superb. If you want tickets, just ask me and I'll see what I can do ;).
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