We’ve just returned from a superb architectural tour of Los Angeles. The focus of the tour was the area of downtown known as Bunker Hill -- roughly the area around 3rd Street and east of the Harbor Freeway.
Everyone knows about Disney Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, and we were fortunate in having Craig Webb from the Gehry office give us a private tour. The cathedral-style hall seats 2,200. This is clearly the gold standard of orchestra performance space: surround sound, the performance AND rehearsal home for the LA Philharmonic, with natural light. Yes, the #1 focus and cost was acoustics, which Webb described, in answer to a question, as "60% science and 40% art". It went through many iterations to ensure even sound, including a full-scale mock-up with the orchestra participating. Visually, the seats are skillfully designed to accommodate current bulk — but not so you’d notice. The fabric is not your usual monochromatic dull but a variation on the colorful carpeting pattern through the facility, including the informal lecture area. It reinforces an uplifting experience.
Disney Hall, lecture area
Not everyone knows the Colburn School and its new Conservatory of Music — www.colburnschool.edu — but I’ve been intrigued by it ever since the January 6, 2008, New York Times article “A Conservatory Stresses the Music, Eliminates the Bills”.
The initial building, designed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer, opened as a community music school in 1998; the expansion to house a new tuition, room- & board-free Conservatory of Music opened in 2003, also designed by Norman Pfeiffer. We were given a wonderful tour by Facility Manager Jesus Salazar. So many aspects of this musical environment are remarkable. It’s not isolated; the Museum of Contemporary Art is next door, and they share a public plaza, including a cafe. Performances are free and frequent. Performance Halls such as Thayer Hall, the 189-seat recital hall, are used not only by the students but also the likes of Placido Domingo, who has practices at the school. Zipper Concert Hall, with 435 seats, is the focus for the numerous concerts that are free to the public. Colburn has such an active rehearsal and performance life that its spaces are used 24/7.
Colburn School, Thayer Hall
In addition, Colburn both rents out space and offers free spaces as part of its neighborhood outreach. Being across from Disney Hall is fortuitous: an L-shaped hallway leading to Thayer has windows looking onto Disney and is now in demand as an event space. Commissioned visual arts also have a place both inside and on the plaza. Salazar noted that when facilities are being designed and constructed, those who will maintain the indoor and outdoor spaces should be involved; their input could result in lower operating costs.