Jenison Center for the Arts

JONES - PHILLIPS ASSOCIATES, LLC

Jenison Center for the Arts Jenison, Michigan

When Van Phillips, principle design consultant at Jones - Phillips Associates, and Fred Gore, senior design architect with URS Corporation, sat down to plan a project for Jenison Public Schools, Phillips saw the potential to make a major leap forward in performing arts cen-ter design. They made that leap designing The Jenison Public School’s Center for the Arts. After completing more than twenty projects together, the duo agreed to focus on a complete-ly different stage arrangement. Nearly every school and small college program is more driven by music than by drama. Drama programs are relatively small and music programs can be huge, sometimes involving as much as a third of the student body in some kind of music. Phil-lips and Gore conceived of the idea to build a concert hall that could also be transformed into an excellent theatre. They wanted real concert hall acoustics for music and wished to eliminate the need for huge moving orchestra shell towers. The space features a 90-foot stage opening; at its full width, the stage can accommodate a large high school orchestra and a choir in a loft that surrounds the stage. To arrange for a the-atrical production, tall sliding walls can be moved onto the stage to form a 40-foot-wide pro-scenium. Over the forestage, an acoustical "eyebrow" lowers to form the top of the theatrical opening. The 17-foot-deep and 48-foot-long eyebrow assembly features a large speaker cluster that adjusts depending on the elevation of the eyebrow. Changeover from Concert Hall to The-atre can be accomplished by faculty and students in under 30 minutes. Phillips and Gore together with their respective firms were awarded a US Copyright for the architectural design of “A Concert Hall that transforms into a Full Working Theatre.” The bene-fits of this unique design have sparked a flash of interest among performing arts educators.

Design Team:

Architects: URS Corporation Grand Rapids, Michigan

Acoustical Consultants: Henderson Engineering Kansas City, Missouri

Client:

Jenison Public Schools

Scope of Work User Programming Facility Conceptual Planning Study Seating and Sightlines Room Design- Control Suite Concert Setting Design and Theatrical Setting Design Specification Stage and House Technical Systems - Lighting & Rigging Seating Systems Design and Specification

Project Information

Type: Concert Hall and Theatre Seating: 1,222

Completion Date

December 3 2013

Project Budget

$16 Million (With new Administrative Offices for the system)



Opening Concert

Starting with the

opening

performance

December 3,

2013, the venue

hosted 17

performances in

18 nights

switching back

and forth as a

concert and

theatre venue



Transformed Into a Theatre

Typical day setup as a Concert Hall

To solve the

unique technical

requirements

needed to make

this concept

work, Beck Stu-

dios coordinated

features with JR

Clancy for spe-

cialized rigging

and Wenger for

the eyebrow.


In under 30 minutes the venue becomes a theatre

with a fly system, masking and wing space.


Assisted by motorized rigging, the transformation begins.



Setup for a Musical

Choir Loft Level Concert Floor

Setup for a Play



Documents

Jenison Center for the Arts