The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) is a multi-venue arts center at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
,
New York, which opened on October 3, 2008. The building is named after
Curtis Priem
Curtis R. Priem is an American computer scientist.
He received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1982. He designed the first graphics processor for the PC, the IBM Professional Graphics Adapter.
F ...
, co-founder of
NVIDIA
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
and graduate of the RPI Class of 1982, who donated $40 million to the Institute in 2004.
Role on campus of a technological university
The Center is a significant change in focus from the traditional focus on this science and engineering campus, although the Darrin Communication Center is similar. The administration claims that "EMPAC introduces a new model for educating the next generation of leaders, who will be better prepared to solve the complex problems facing our world.”
Architecture and facilities
The design architect for the EMPAC is
Grimshaw Architects
Grimshaw Architects (formerly Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners) is an architectural firm based in London. Founded in 1980 by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the firm was one of the pioneers of high-tech architecture. In particular, they are known for their d ...
, London and New York, designers of
The Eden Project, the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
, and
International Terminal Waterloo. The architect of record is the New York City architectural firm
Davis Brody Bond. The engineers for the project are
Buro Happold.
The main concert hall seats 1,200, and has been lauded as one of the most acoustically perfect concert halls in the world. The acoustical firm
Kirkegaard Associates Kirkegaard Associates is an American acoustics design firm founded by Lawrence Kirkegaard, based in Chicago, Illinois, with an office in Denver, Colorado. The company is headed by President/Owner Joseph W A Myers and employs 12 professionals in arch ...
was contracted to work on the system. Extensive computer modeling was done of the ceiling canopy before construction to optimize the transmission of sound waves. EMPAC is the first venue to use
Nomex
Nomex is a flame-resistant meta-aramid material developed in the early 1960s by DuPont and first marketed in 1967.
Properties
Nomex and related aramid polymers are related to nylon, but have aromatic backbones, and hence are more rigid and mo ...
fire-retardant fabric for a ceiling canopy to reflect sound waves.
The exterior of the main concert hall is lined with of Western Red Cedar. Grown in sustainable forests in British Columbia, the wood was chosen for its fire-retardant properties.
A glass wall lines the north side of the building. A water/glycol mix circulating through the steel support beams maintains an even temperature and limits condensation on the glass.
EMPAC is also LEED Silver certified.
EMPAC is also home to a 400-seat theater with an 80′ x 40′ stage, 60′ fly tower, and computer controlled rigging.
EMPAC also has two very large projection screens: a 50' x 40' one in the theater and a 60' wide screen in the concert hall.
There are two main multi-purpose studio spaces. Studio 1 has and has 40-foot-high ceilings, and Studio 2 is with -high ceilings. There is also a rehearsal studio called Studio Beta, and 4 Artist-in-Residence studios (with one being permanently occupied by the Institute President). Studio 1 and Studio 2 are lined with acoustical panels to diffuse sound using innovative paneling designed to simulate the characteristics of tree bark. Different panels are designed to absorb and refract different frequencies of sound. All performance spaces have a maximum noise level of 15 dB, making them some of the quietest artistic presentation spaces in the world.
A 360-degree projection system has been developed, which is used for virtual reality research, art works, and cinematic presentations. The current system has a round, tall circular screen which surrounds viewers, who either can walk around or view from swivel chairs. Special 360-degree cameras are used for filming, along with microphones which record directionality. The sound can then be played back on an array of surround-sound speakers, allowing sound projection from any angle toward the audience. EMPAC's first commission, entitled THERE IS STILL TIME..BROTHER, by The Wooster Group, began at EMPAC and then left to tour internationally.
Founding staff
The founding director of EMPAC is Johannes Goebel, who led it from 2002 through 2022. Prior to EMPAC, Goebel was previously the director and founder of the Institute for Music and Acoustics at the
Center for Art and Media Technology (ZKM) in
Karlsruhe, Germany
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. I ...
. EMPAC's curatorial team includes Victoria Brooks, Senior Curator of Time-Based Visual Arts, Dr. Ashley Ferro-Murray, Senior Curator of Dance and Theater, and Amadeus Julian Regucera, Curator of Music. The founding curatorial team included Kathleen Forde, Curator, Time-Based Arts, Helene Lesterlin, Curator Dance/Theater, and Micah Silver, Curator, Music.
Construction
The institute announced plans for the construction of a new performance hall in Fall of 2001 with construction costs originally slated at $50 million. After a design competition and discussions with architectural firms, the plans were revised with a new construction cost of $141 million and completion date of sometime in 2006. While some thought that RPI needed improved music and arts facilities, the increased size and construction cost were seen as unnecessarily expensive by many students and faculty.
![EMPAC Lights above hudson 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/EMPAC_Lights_above_hudson_2.jpg)
The project broke ground on September 19, 2003. During 2004 the Institute began a large capital campaign and Rensselaer alumnus and trustee
Curtis Priem
Curtis R. Priem is an American computer scientist.
He received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1982. He designed the first graphics processor for the PC, the IBM Professional Graphics Adapter.
F ...
, '82, donated $40 million in an unrestricted gift. RPI decided to officially name the project in his honor. Additionally, the Institute received a $1 million gift for EMPAC programs from alumnus David Jaffe in 2006.
Over 100,000 cubic yards of earth were evacuated from the hill to make room for the structure.
RPI has had problems in the past with the instability of the ground on the hillside, a phenomenon known as
mass wasting
Mass wasting, also known as mass movement, is a general term for the movement of rock or soil down slopes under the force of gravity. It differs from other processes of erosion in that the debris transported by mass wasting is not entrained in ...
. To prevent the EMPAC from "sliding down the hill", 215 rock anchors were drilled into the ground to stabilize the foundations. At over long, they are some of the largest anchors in North America.
In September 2005, the institute hosted ''EMPAC 360: On Site + Sound'', a multimedia and performing arts presentation to celebrate the midpoint of construction. The event was attended by over 3000 people from the region.
The expected completion date was moved to sometime in 2008.
In January 2008, RPI commissioned lighting designer
Jennifer Tipton
Jennifer Tipton (born September 11, 1937) is an award winning American lighting designer. She has designed for dance, theater, and opera. She is known for working on many productions of American Ballet Theatre.
Life and career
Tipton was born in ...
to create a large lighting display called "Light Above the Hudson". Operational for several weeks, the display drew attention to the center with a 300 by array of multicolored lights and search lights pointed into the sky.
The grand opening celebrations were held on three weekends from October 3 to October 19, 2008, with all events free to the public. The inaugural concert was programmed by
Micah Silver and
Johannes Goebel on October 4 and was a seamless concert that included the
Albany Symphony Orchestra with pianist
Per Tengstrand, the
International Contemporary Ensemble
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a contemporary classical music ensemble, based in New York City and Chicago. ICE performs a diverse and extensive array of chamber, electro-acoustic, improvisatory, and multimedia works.
History
T ...
and Vox Vocal Ensemble performing
spatial music
Spatial music is composed music that intentionally exploits sound localization. Though present in Western music from biblical times in the form of the antiphon, as a component specific to new musical techniques the concept of spatial music (''Raumm ...
ranging four hundred years of music composition. Performances were also given by the Norwegian group
Verdensteatret, the Japanese collective
Dumb Type
Dumb Type is an artist collective based in Kyoto, Japan founded in 1984.
Dumb Type is a group of creative art forms that express the new and daily life of the twentieth century modern and technological world of Japan. During the 1980s Dumb Type ...
and a duet performance by pianist
Cecil Taylor with
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music.
She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Cente ...
a poetry reading by Taylor, and a party DJ'd by
Madlib
Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM (as Madvillain), J Dilla (as Jaylib), ...
. October 11 was alumni weekend and featured Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Award ...
, and October 18 was family weekend and featured Gamelan Galak Tikka, the Ensemble Robot and the
Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band. Each weekend also contained numerous lectures and workshops including Johannes Goebel and
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music.
She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Cente ...
. Studio 1 Goodman Studio/Theater hosted a special 360-degree film by
The Wooster Group
The Wooster Group is a New York City-based experimental theater company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. It gradually emerged from Richard Schechner's The Performance Group (1967–1980) during the period from 1975 to 1980, an ...
entitled ''There is Still Time..Brother'' alternating with screenings by Workspace Unlimited.
Gallery
File:RPI EMPAC Lights above the hudson 2.jpg, "Lights Above the Hudson" display, January 2008
File:EMPAC SW Face.JPG, Southwest corner of EMPAC grounds
File:EMPACEastEntrance.JPG, East entrance of EMPAC
File:EMPAC N Face.JPG, North face of EMPAC with glass façade
File:Empac Front Cropped.jpg, West face of EMPAC
File:Empac south side.JPG, South side of EMPAC
File:EMPACBalconyEntrance.JPG, Balcony entrances to the main performance hall
File:EMPAC Stairs.JPG, Grand staircase in EMPAC
File:EMPACBalcony.JPG, Founders' Room Balcony overlooking the City of Troy
References
External links
EMPAC Main PageEMPAC Calendar of Events
{{DEFAULTSORT:Experimental Media And Performing Arts Center
Concert halls in New York (state)
Buildings and structures in Troy, New York
Music venues in New York (state)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Tourist attractions in Rensselaer County, New York
Performing arts centers in New York (state)
University and college arts centers in the United States
Nicholas Grimshaw buildings