Recital hall sound wall isolation detail
Concert hall acoustical isolation joint
Connection to the community happens through the Hamel Music Cen- ter. Increased social connections are a direct result of the new building. Passersby on University Avenue can catch a glimpse of students at practice in the Kaufman Rehearsal Hall. The school’s former recital hall used to host 160 performances a year, but the new Collins Recital Hall is planned to deliver more than 350 performances year after year. Community music instructors may hold lessons within the building, and occasional music guests may hold an event here. Digital stream- ing technology further connects the students’ music to communities throughout Wisconsin—and far beyond. The isolation of the concert, recital and rehearsal halls from one an- other is completely unlike that of other auditorium and performance hall designs. Indeed, the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Music Hamel Music Center is a rare project that calls for the fine art of acoustics.
tem, disguising the necessary pipes while also incorporating them in an aesthetically pleasing way. To achieve a crack-free floor appearance, the structural design called for a 4-inch drop of the structural concrete slab floor. The floor was infilled later with a colored concrete topping slab properly jointed and separated from the structural floor. Unique to the rehearsal hall is its view to the activity on bustling University Avenue. A corner of this hall’s double walls was cut open and, in its place, sit a double set of windows, providing musicians and pedestrians a view of the other. The design application prevents outside noise from entering the hall and allows the music to remain solely within the rehearsal space. Double cantilevers and leaning steel columns were designed to support the exterior’s zig-zag precast panels that float over this corner condition. Both recital and rehearsal halls feature distinctive exterior wall shaping. Beyond aesthetics, these shaped precast panels are sloped in different directions and used as part of the mass required for the acoustic outside box wall system. In order to make the shapes, molds were designed exclusively for this project. A lateral truss system provides the support required for these walls, enabling them to stand freely. A New Star on Campus Design and construction occurred between 2014 and 2019 at a total cost of $55.8 million. And in October 2019, the Hamel Music Center celebrated its grand opening. The new recital hall’s capacity nearly doubles that of the old recital hall. The concert hall’s stage, unlike that of its predecessor, comfortably fits a large group of student-musicians.
STEVE ROLOFF, P.E., LEED AP, structural group leader at raSmith, served as the proj- ect manager and senior structural engineer for the Hamel Music Center project. He has more than 35 years of structural engineering experience. raSmith is a multi-disciplinary consulting firm comprising civil engineers, structural engineers, land surveyors, development managers, landscape architects, and ecologists.
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august 2020
csengineermag.com
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