The Show Must Go On

Scottsdale Theater Renovation has Flair for the Dramatic

After entertaining patrons for more than 30 years, the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts embarks on a renovation in three acts to spruce up its theater and lobby.

By David M. Brown

The landmark Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts is getting an encore.

So far, approximately $16 million in upgrades have been made to the atrium/lobby of the Scottsdale Mall facility as well as an aesthetic and acoustical overhaul of the 838-seat Virginia G. Piper Theater. The 60,000-sq-ft SCPA opened in 1975 as part of the Scottsdale Civic Center complex designed by Arizona architect Bennie Gonzales, who died in November.

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The city’s goal for the Virginia G. Piper Theater was to make a “good theater even better” with more intimate space, better acoustics, uninterrupted views, comfortable seats and updated architectural features, says Bill Peifer, principal project manager for the city. “Today’s concertgoers expect more from a performance than just buying a ticket and taking a seat,” he adds.

Leading the design/construction team for the city-contracted project is John Douglas, FAIA, principal of Scottsdale’s Douglas Architecture and Planning, and the Phoenix office of Howard S. Wright Constructors, serving as construction manager at risk for the first two phases.

The first phase brings major changes to the 10,000-sq-ft atrium/lobby, including a new west entry, mezzanine and flooring; renovation of the box office and back-of-the-house support areas; and upgrading of all mechanical systems. The lobby phase was completed in January.

Phase two began during the summer and is on schedule for completion for the start of the fall arts season. It will improve the look and sound of the 14,252-sq-ft Piper Theater.

The 10,000-sq-ft atrium and lobby will be renovated including a new 80-ft-long theater entry facade of custom-glass panels. (Rendering courtesy Douglas Architecture and Planning)

The job includes a new lobby entry façade as well as the addition of a lower lobby. There also will be new seating, improved sightlines with new pitching, enhanced wheelchair accessibility, new mechanical systems, significant acoustical upgrades and new theatrical lighting controls and rigging system. Capacity will be increased to approximately 850, with the addition of box seating.

The still-to-come third phase will create mezzanine conference space overlooking the atrium, a glass bridge, glass railings, lobby-level café, mezzanine staircase, revamped side entrances and upgrades to the retail store.

Phase three is tentatively scheduled for completion with phase two. If fully funded, the third phase will add approximately $9.5 million to the project, increasing the total renovation cost to about $25.5 million.

The existing structure is monumental in scale, Douglas says. The basic components of Gonzales’ original building are concrete masonry units, precast concrete, a coating of rough stucco and a space frame acting as the theater roof structure.

Douglas’ renovation differentiates from the original with the addition of steel, glass and resin panels. New walls are finished in a smooth coat of plaster. “When complete, a knowledgeable observer will be able to recognize the work each designer contributed,” says Douglas, who has renovated other Gonzales buildings, including the Heard Museum in Phoenix. “The new work is meant to contrast with the original vision.”

The lobby/atrium will now have a glass-enclosed elevator to the stage level and 2- by 4-ft blue limestone slabs in the atrium inlaid with a 30- by 80-ft custom carpet. The new wrap-around theater entry will be an 80-ft-long facade of custom-cast glass panels lighted from behind for ambient glow during small performances that will be scheduled for the carpeted space.

Demolition at the west entryway and lobby could not begin until the majority of structural steel was in place, since it acted as demolition shoring. (Photo courtesy Howard S. Wright Constructors)

The remodeling of the west entry involved demolition and the addition of extensive steelwork. Approximately 117 tons were added for the new box office, west entry and mezzanine as well as for support of the atrium roof structure, says Chuck Kilgore, project manager for Howard S. Wright Constructors.

The new structural design for the west entry includes two main beam lines and a system of needle beams to maintain the existing roof structure while gaining an additional 30 ft of opening for the entry, Kilgore says.

The main supporting members are a 40-ft-long beam weighing more than 5 tons, now supporting the existing concrete single tees, and a 40-ft-long beam that is supporting the existing concrete roof beam and hollow-core plank roof structure at the west elevation. The two beams allow the new entry to span 62 ft.

The needle beams supported the roof system while demolition was completed. After demolition, crews cut back these beams so that they could provide permanent lateral support for the new structure.

Kilgore says his crew could not start major demolition on the project until the majority of the structural steel was in place because it acted as demolition shoring. “This methodology, though difficult, provided significant cost savings to the city by the deletion of temporary scaffolding,” Kilgore says.

The steelwork, as with all materials at the site, had to be delivered as needed because there is no staging area at the Scottsdale Mall.

Another challenge was replacing the HVAC system - with an emphasis on eliminating noise in the atrium and the Piper Theater. HSW installed a 38,000-CFM air-handling unit that meets or exceeds ASHRAE standards for performance, Kilgore says. Ductwork is lined with acoustical insulation to mitigate sound transference from the mechanical system to the atrium.

In addition, the original air-handler units were entombed in a concrete structure with no access, requiring, in most cases, removal and then rebuilding the concrete structure of the roof to access the mechanical rooms.

Kilgore’s team also installed new power distribution panels and upgraded the lighting system.

In Piper, the goal was to create a theater that works well for the audience, performers and technical staff, says Alec Stoll, senior associate with Fisher Dachs Associates of New York, which has participated in theater design for venues such as the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Radio City Music Hall in New York.

“The flow into and out of the room has to be comfortable, the performers have to feel connected to the audience and the technical staff needs to have a room that functions at the highest level in order to maintain their high production standards,” Stoll says.

To remediate one of the difficulties of the original space - lack of intimacy and warmth - Stoll’s team is adding a ring of boxes as a wrapper around the main seating. The boxes will “narrow the main bowl of seating by about 18 ft, creating a more intimate central bowl, and create a new inner set of walls that are closer to the audience members,” Stoll says.

In addition, the boxes extend to the proscenium, which “puts human scale people and architecture close to the stage,” Stoll says.

Acoustically, the Piper Theater had served well for jazz, folk, world music and other performance types requiring amplification, says David A. Conant, FASA, principal of Westlake Village, Calif.-based McKay Conant Hoover, which is also renovating the Herberger Theater in Phoenix. But, it had developed a declining reputation in its capacity to serve unamplified chamber and symphonic music, choral works and similar performances.

McKay Conant Hoover’s remediation will include the installation of an electroacoustic reverberation enhancement system that will replace a long-abandoned original system; highly diffusive recital screens to allow musicians to accurately hear their music; curved cheek walls near the proscenium; theater sidewalls and reflectors at the proscenium and catwalks to uniformly distribute sound throughout the theater; and largely out-of-sight loudspeakers to extend the room’s natural reverberant field.

Key Players

Owner: City of Scottsdale
General Contractor: Howard S. Wright Constructors
Architect: Douglas Architecture and Planning
Engineers: PK Associates; Energy Systems Design; McKay Conant Hoover; Fisher Dachs Associates
Subcontractors: Dickens Quality Demolition; Corbins Electric; Tri-City Mechanical; E&K Drywall; HSW Concrete; Cobra Paint/Stucco; Architectural Millwork and Design