Full structural engineering
services; façade consulting services
Awards:
Small Project Award from the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois 2008 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards
2006 Ontario Concrete Award for Structural
Design Innovation from the Ready Mix Concrete Association
of Ontario
Laminated Glass – Commercial award from
the Glass Association of North America (GANA) 2007
Design in Glass Awards
The $102 million Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts is the new home for the Canadian Opera Company (COC)
and a new performance venue for the National Ballet of
Canada.
Halcrow Yolles provided full structural engineering and
façade consulting services for the fast-tracked
construction of this 15,000m² world-class opera house.
Standing in the opera’s entrance lobby known as
the City Room, theatre goers are surrounded by a transparent,
five storey glass wall façade. The Grand Staircase,
a feature in the City Room, rises three storeys from the
Orchestra to the Grand Ring level and is a focal point
upon entering the Four Seasons Centre. Innovatively designed
and engineered, the floating glass staircase is believed
to be the longest span for a glass stair in the world.
The box office, retail space, Henry N.R. Jackman Lounge
and the glass-walled Aerial Amphitheatre – a small
rehearsal hall – are located on this main lobby level.
From the outset of the project the design team was focused
on creating an intimate space within the hall, providing
excellent acoustics and isolating the performance spaces
from external sources of noise and vibration. The
hall plan was based on the horseshoe shape, modeled after
the great opera houses of Europe.
Known as the R. Fraser Elliott Hall, the 2,000 seat horseshoe-shaped
auditorium is ringed by four tiers of balconies. The 28.5m
wide auditorium is comprised of five levels: the orchestra,
box level, and first and second balconies. The horseshoe
configuration is a fundamental design component of the
room, as it maximizes sightlines and achieves the best
possible acoustics for all theatre goers at all levels.
In the Four Seasons Centre, 73 per cent of all seats are
within a 30.5m cylinder of centre stage, with the farthest
seat only 40m from the stage.
The deep, 6.1m wide orchestra pit can accommodate up to
100 musicians. The main stage is served by a 33m fly tower,
stage rigging and lighting equipment. A full side stage
and rear stage allow for three productions in repertory.
The back-of-house areas include administration space, dressing
rooms and the rehearsal room, located adjacent to the stage.
The auditorium, stage and rehearsal hall are designed
as an entirely separate and isolated structure from the
rest of the building. This separation of the outer building
eliminates outside noises and achieves the goal of an N-1
sound isolation rating.
The new building also includes below grade parking for
200 cars and a direct connection to the subway.
.jpg){kind=logo}
