The $100 million Overture Center construction/renovation project in Madison, Wis., required an inspired design and a bracing, fast-track schedule.

Phase one of the project, including the new 2,250-seat Overture Hall, will open to the public in September. Phase two, which included renovation of the existing Oscar Meyer Theater, will be complete in September 2005.

Saving existing architectural elements from several structures - including the Indiana limestone facade of the 1923 Yost-Kessenich building and elements of the 1927 Capitol Theater - have been high priorities on the 400,000-sq.-ft. project and will help mesh the new structure into Madison's unique cityscape.

"With elements we are preserving, like the Oscar Meyer Theater, the old Capitol Theater and Yost-Kessenich facade, whatever their artistic merits, they are part of the warm memories of many people in Madison," said Cesar Pelli of the New Haven, Conn., design architectural firm Cesar Pelli & Associates.

"Those memories are part of how we perceive and understand a city and are something I treat with great care and respect. They are as much a reality as stone, glass and brick."

Site preparation began in February 2001. The new Overture Center will occupy an entire city block, facing Madison's signature State Street.

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Integrating Existing Elements

Pelli said that incorporating the existing elements into the new center was "hard and arduous" work, but "they add a lot to soften the newness and size of the complex and make it feel better on the street, which has such a small scale. The street is gentle and charming and a little funky - and that's why it's lovely. This should not be too foreign an object."

Anne Gatling Haynes, senior associate with Pelli, said keeping the building in scale and in step with surrounding structures played a part in the design of all sides of the one-square-block complex.

"There is no real back door to the complex," she added. "We tried to keep all of the streets fairly lively with entrances that are illuminated at night and bring lively features of the building to the street edge."

Lawrence Thomas, senior project manager and project executive for Madison-based general contractor J.H. Findorff and Son Inc., added that the portion of the building facing Mifflin Street is stepped to keep the pedestrian perspective in sync with the rest of the street. On Fairchild, where the cityscape is taller, height was not an issue.

Pelli, world renowned for creating exceptional performance venues, said: "The quality of the space is part of the whole presentation, which is something that was lost in the more scientific period of modern architecture. Then there was only concern about sightlines and acoustics and no concern about the emotional aspects of going to a theater. Sightlines and acoustics are essential, but the emotional aspects of the space are also extremely important.

"I feel that as an architect I can contribute to all the thousands and thousands of performances that will take place in all of the venues we are building there, to make them better, more resonant and to make people come out after a show feeling more satisfied."

A Tight Schedule

Creating that sort of venue magic on the Overture Center project was complicated by a tight, fast-track schedule.

"The biggest stumbling block on this project has been the schedule," Haynes said.
"Early on in the project there was a desire to accelerate the process and give Madison a huge, beneficial, public access structure as soon as possible."

To accomplish that goal, the new Overture Hall was constructed, along with attendant lobby spaces. When these spaces open in September, the existing Oscar Meyer Theater and other spaces will be closed and renovated. Accomplishing this phasing meant clockwork coordination.

"We have literally been right ahead of the concrete trucks with drawings," Thomas said.

Knowing that the project would be both complex and under terrific time constraints, Thomas set up a team and working arrangement that he knew would make the job work.

"One of the things I insisted on before we started was that we have a large number of the same team members as we had on the Monona Terrace project," he said, referring to the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1938.

Wright altered the design eight times before his death in 1959, but he had made enemies in his home state. After decades of controversy, multiple lawsuits, referenda and pieces of legislation, construction finally began in the 1990s. The building opened its doors on July 18, 1997.

"All of us worked well together on that project and we all know each other's ins and outs," Thomas said.

He also managed to set up shop in offices right across the street from the jobsite.

"I don't think we could have done it fast track any other way," Thomas said. "Here we can just take a shop drawing to the next office and get things done."

Haynes added: "The contractor [Findorff] spent a lot of time on understanding the building type. They visited other performing arts centers we have done and others.
They also spoke to other contractors who have built these centers."

Acoustical Concerns

For Thomas, other project concerns have included the acoustical details of building a performance space, as well as working on an extremely tight site.

"Building a world-class performance facility means acoustically isolating the concert hall from the rest of the facility," he said. "Every conduit had to be isolated and we had to put in acoustical joints between the structural elements.

"Anything that goes from an adjoining structure into the concert hall had to be isolated with flex joints, which is a flexible material placed between rigid pieces. The structural members are sitting on large neoprene bearing pads so they are allowed to float."

Another big job was installing the insulated glass curtain wall. The wall consists of 17- by 9-ft. panels, each weighing about 2,200 lbs., some of the largest such panels in the world.

"We preloaded the entire structure onto the roof to create flexion in the structure equal to the weight of the panels," Thomas said. "As you put the glass in, you add load to the roof" to prevent any flex in the structure that might cause panels to crack.

Lifting the panels into place required a custom piece of equipment outfitted with 16 suction cups. The device was purchased by the Overture Center and will be used for any future glass replacement or repair.

Constructing the rotunda, a focal point of the interior space shared by the various venues, required old-world craftsmanship.

"The rotunda has an oculus in the middle and compound curved walls," Thomas said.
"The exterior is concave and the interior is convex. We did it with steel studs and lath and then multiple coats of plaster. The only way we could be sure it was perfect was to do it by hand."

Wall features in the Overture Hall, which are both acoustical and decorative, also required special handling.

"These are unique looking shapes," Thomas said. "There are half circles in rows that change direction horizontally and vertically. First we created them out of foam, and after two or three tries they would be approved be the architect. Then they were sprayed with latex and molds were made. We cast the plaster ourselves."

To dry the plaster, Findorff rented refrigerated trucks that could be converted to heated spaces. Thomas reported that water literally ran from the trucks as the plaster dried.

The plaster pieces, weighing from 65 to 400 lbs., were then hung like stone panels on the walls.

When completed, the complex will house several different performance venues as well as gallery space and several rehearsal rooms.