Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute celebrated the opening of its new 220,000-sq.-ft. Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) this month, designed and completed by a team of several specialists that included Grimshaw Architects, Davis Brody Bond Aedas, and Buro Happold Consulting Engineers.

EMPAC houses a 1,200-seat concert hall, a 400-seat theater, two adaptive environmental studios, an audio and visual production suite, artists-in-residence studios, and a dance studio. The acousticians of Kirkegaard Associates achieved total acoustic isolation for the four main venues of the concert hall, the theater, and the two studios. Rensselaer mandated a NC-15 noise criteria for all four main venues and the audio production suite.

The project is built off a plane of the campus and into the hillside. It serves as a pathway for students to get from the street up to campus. A cafe is located at the base of the concert hall. "We were very keen that this is a social space on campus," says William Horgan, associate principal with Grimshaw.

Perhaps the most visually striking element is the shell of the concert hall. The room is
"wrapped" inside a hull of curved cedar planks. This egg-shaped structure hovers within the glass exterior enclosure and actually supports the roof.

The project is being submitted for LEED certification and is seeking a Silver rating.