Building Trades News

$200 Million Expansion to Performing Arts Center Boosts Orange County’s Cultural Profile

By Christopher Honey BTN Staff Writer click to enlarge When the Orange County Performing Arts Center unveils it $200 million expansion this Sept. 15 at its Grand Opening concert, the centerpiece will be the Henry and Renee Segerstrom Concert Hall. The 2,000-seat concert hall will be the new home for Orange County’s Pacific Symphony. The hall is part of a 260,000 square foot project which will also include a 500-seat multi-purpose music theater. To meet the needs of performers, patrons, and the community, the new addition features a full service restaurant, multi-level grand lobby, eight individual performer rehearsal rooms, fifteen dressing rooms, and a music library. By the time the project is fully completed, the expansion of the Orange County Performing Arts Center will have created jobs for 3,000 union members, noted Jim Adams, business rep for the LA/OC Building Trades Council. “This project means a great deal to our members,” said Phil Salerno, business representative from Cement Masons 500. “It’s a beautiful project that helps support and grow the area. I’m 100 percent behind unions putting back into the community.” Doug Chappell, business manager for IBEW Local 441, said the expansion was a good model for the many benefits of project labor agreements. “This is an example of a private organization asking for a PLA,” he said, “and it’s also a showcase for the kind of work that can be accomplished with a project labor agreement and a skilled workforce.” He added, “I just hope that some of the local politicians were paying attention to what a PLA can mean for a project and the community.” click to enlarge Even more than most projects, the concert hall and music theater’s exacting specs called for skilled, trained construction workers. The precise needs of a high-end music venue, with its exacting acoustics, meant that work had to be done with exceptional care and skill. As the acoustician in charge of the acoustical design, Artek’s Russell Johnson worked closely with architect Cesar Pelli. The hall’s acoustic canopies are made of glass-reinforced grout with 130 adjustable, acoustical doors to reverb chambers. Other features of the new addition include: A curvilinear concert hall with a stage, an orchestra level, an orchestra terrace and four tiers for seating. The exterior glass façade ranges from 52 feet to 87 feet high, and is 300 feet long. Six hundred and fifty panes comprise more than an acre of glass. click to enlarge A pedestrian plaza features “Connector,” a 66-foot-tall sculpture by the California-born artist, Richard Serra. The 360-ton steel artwork was personally commissioned by the Center’s founding chairman and one of the namesakes of the new hall – Henry Segerstrom. Ground was broken on the expansion site in July 2003 and the construction began in earnest on September 25, 2003. Since then, 2,688 craftsmen have worked on the project. At its peak, 450 union members a day were working on the project. At present, approximately 250 members are on site every day, with that number expected to drop down to 100 people in the last few weeks leading up to the auditorium’s grand opening this fall. Construction is projected to be completed in mid August. In addition to the workers, the project has required vast amounts of materiel, including:               • 36,000 cubic yards of concrete               • 2,500 tons of structural steel               • 50,000 square feet of glass The inaugural concert will be a performance by renowned tenor Placido Domingo, the Pacific Symphony, Pacific Chorale, and the John Alexander Singers. The program will include Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and the world premiere of a piece by composer William Bolcom. For the opening of the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Hall, Bolcom wrote a song cycle for the poems of Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca entitled “Canciones de Lorca.”

 

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