Kalwall Daylights Cincinnati Ballet, On Pointe and On Budget
"Our Cincinnati Ballet project was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding efforts in my 25 years of practicing architecture," says Robert Powell, Senior Project Manager at Cincinnati's ATA Beilharz Architects. "The Cincinnati Ballet is an internationally recognized company, presenting both traditional and contemporary dance motifs throughout their performance season. The project was enhanced by the blending of creative energies from our firm and the ballet's staff."
Even though Powell's firm and the ballet company danced perfectly together, some of the steps seemed challenging at first. The choreography called for transforming the company's original facility (a converted nineteenth-century brewery with a less-than-inspiring 1980s addition), expanding the troupe, and better engaging their patrons, supporters and the public. Design objectives included the creation of a convertible studio with an area that could be transformed from a practice space into a performance theater, and a lobby that could support intermission crowds, daily visitors and evening student groups. ATA Beilharz's plan also needed to provide accessible facilities and make an architectural statement that reinforced the Cincinnati Ballet's commitment to the art of dance. And like a ballerina dancing on pointe, it all had to balance with a lean budget typical of often cash-starved arts organizations: a mere $150-per-square-foot for construction hard costs.
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The design firm's solution was an 8,000-square-foot addition with a huge, translucent Kalwall Wall System forming its face. "Kalwall enabled us to meet all our objectives," adds Powell. "By day, the lobby interior is a bright and comfortable environment, economically heated and cooled and free from direct or reflected glare that would have resulted from a similar expanse of clear glazing. At night, programmed theatrical lighting, mounted in the lobby ceiling, transforms the panels into a stage of 'dancing lights' that enlivens the façade. Simultaneously, the lobby interior is animated with soft colors, reflected back into the two-story space." The interior lighting also generates a warm, inviting, nighttime glow through the translucent Kalwall.
During the manufacturing process, standard 2-3/4" (70 mm) Kalwall sandwich panels can be infilled with various densities of specialized, translucent insulation. Architects and designers can achieve a thermal insulation value of up to R-20 (U = 0.05 Btu/hr/ft²/°F, or 0.3 W/m²K) and still cover expansive areas with translucent cladding or roofing. The Cincinnati Ballet benefits year 'round from minimized solar gain and heat loss, cutting energy costs for air conditioning and heating, and the controlled daylight also reduces the need for artificial lighting. Vandal-resistant Kalwall is also self-cleaning: any outside grime simply washes off with rainfall, saving the company additional maintenance costs.
The project "defines itself though simplicity, ingenuity, and creativity," says the clearly pleased Powell. Structurally and aesthetically, Kalwall has helped mold the facility into nothing less than a "new icon" for the city, and all well within the fiscal realities of the Cincinnati Ballet.
Cincinnati Ballet
Architect: ATA Beilharz Architects
Kalwall Specifications
Panel U-Value-: 0.23 Btu/hr/ft²/°F, or 1.30 W/m²K
NFRC System U-Value: 0.29 Btu/hr/ft²/°F, or 1.64 W/m²K
Light Transmission: 15%
Solar Heat Gain Coefficient: 0.16
For more information, contact:
Bruce Keller
Kalwall Corporation 603-627-3861 (800-258-9777 N. America)
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