The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) is a multi-venue arts center at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...
in
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, 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 thei ...
, London and New York, designers of
The Eden Project
The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Ex ...
, the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
, and
International Terminal Waterloo. The architect of record is the New York City architectural firm
Davis Brody Bond
Davis Brody Bond is an American architectural firm headquartered in New York City, New York, with additional offices in Washington, DC and São Paulo, Brazil. The firm is named for Lewis Davis, Samuel Brody, and J. Max Bond Jr. and is le ...
. The engineers for the project are
Buro Happold
Buro Happold (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the environment ...
.
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. ...
. 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
Micah (; ) is a given name.
Micah is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible ( Old Testament), and means "Who is like God?" The name is sometimes found with theophoric extensions. Suffix theophory in '' Yah'' and in ''Yahweh'' results in ...
and
Johannes Goebel
Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...
on October 4 and was a seamless concert that included the
Albany Symphony Orchestra
The Albany Symphony Orchestra is a professional symphony orchestra based in Albany, New York.
Founded in 1930 as the People's Orchestra of Albany by Italian-born conductor John Carabella, the Albany Symphony is the oldest professional symphony ...
with pianist
Per Tengstrand
Per Tengstrand (born 1968, Växjö, Sweden) is a Swedish pianist.
Biography
Tengstrand started to play the piano at age 6, being taught by his mother. He entered the Malmö Academy of Music at age 16, in the class of Hans Pålsson. In 1985, he w ...
, 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
...
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
Verdensteatret is a hybrid performance art company based in Norway.
In 1986 Lisbeth Bodd and Asle Nilsen founded Verdensteatret, a collective of artists from different fields who collaborate to stage pieces which combine performance, installation, ...
, 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
Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet.
Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex ...
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 Center ...
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), and Fr ...
. 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 Awar ...
, 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 Center ...
. 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