A MAJOR entry to the Princeton campus and community is being redesigned as a 21st-century portal with the door lodged firmly open.

At an open house for the community Wednesday, Sept. 17, Steven Holl Architects unveiled concepts for the initial academic buildings in the new arts and transit neighborhood. In addition, Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners presented updated information on traffic circulation and other plans for the area near the intersection of Alexander Street and University Place.

(more…)

Excerpted from Lighting & Sound America Online, August 13, 2008:

Production Design Associates (PDA) will launch a new division called PDA Green Light.

PDA Green Light is meant to provide affordable event production while delivering eco-friendly practices for the benefit of the community and the overall environment, the company says. It will utilize production equipment and transportation that reduces the overall carbon footprint of typical lighting and A/V services, thereby reducing waste through various recycling and reusing methods. With the accessibility of LED lighting, battery and other alternative power sources and bio-diesel fueled transportation, PDA says it can now service clients while practicing eco-friendly procedures.

The initiative will be led by Dave Brisacher, whose credits include productions for The Weather Channel, Governor Mark Sanford, Senator Fritz Hollings, Mayor Joe Riley, Interscope Records, The Wailers, The Pointer Sisters and many corporate events and weddings. “Green Light combines two of my passions — event production and the environment,” he said. “And considering the current state of the economy, we are happy to be able to provide an affordable option to our clients with lower budgets. It’s a win-win situation.”

In business for 17 years, PDA has handled a number of high-profile projects, including five CNN Presidential debates.

“I believe that PDA’s success has been a result of the commitment to investing in new technology and responding to client needs,” said Jeff Nickles, the company’s president. “PDA Green Light is a great example of both of these strengths at work, and now we can see a greater environmental benefit, too.”

ShareThis

Go to Source

SAYING that “the power of the theater industry to set an example in the fight against climate change is immense,” the Mayor of London’s “Green Theatre: Taking Action on Climate Change” plan was launched on September 9th in partnership with industry leaders at the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) annual conference, and represents a milestone of collaboration and innovation in providing theaters with the tools to green their planning and operations.

“Green Theatre”, an action plan for the theater industry, outlines the most practical and effective measures that can be taken to reduce energy use in buildings while also saving money on energy bills. The plan estimates that London’s theatre industry creates 50,000 tonnes (55,000 US tons) of carbon emissions per year – the equivalent of emissions from 9,000 homes. (That figure does not include carbon emissions from audience travel, which it estimates at 35,000 tonnes per year, or that from embedded carbon in materials waste.)  Given the trend of shows using more energy because of the lighting required to create ever more spectacular effects, that figure will only grow over time.  It concludes that if all actions recommended in the plan were taken, the industry could reduce carbon emissions by almost 60 per cent by 2025 – the equivalent of converting over 5,000 London homes to zero-carbon.

The Plan lists a number of benefits to going green, firstly by allowing theaters to lead the way by “showing our audiences and other theatre industries what is possible.”  It touts the energy and money that can be saved, noting that a simple step such as ensuring that stage lights are only turned on at half-hour would collectively save London theatres £100,000 a year in energy costs, and that such changes can be made “without sacrificing artistic integrity”.  Saying that “industries that get ahead of the game can not only better influence policy but reduce the pain of hasty compliance later on,” it encourages theaters to retrofit their spaces before government regulations for them to — a message that may well resonate with managers who have worked so hard to get up to speed with OSHA regulations.  Lastly, it asserts that going green will attract talent.

Moira Sinclair, Executive Director, Arts Council England said: “We recognize the importance of this work in helping theaters to increase the efficiency of their business processes thereby reducing the industry’s carbon footprint while saving money and continuing to attract artists and audiences.  A program such as this demonstrates that the arts in England can lead internationally in responding to the pressures of climate change, moving beyond a duty of compliance with issues such as energy management, to a role of inspiration and influence much greater than that due to the industry’s size alone. That this leadership should emerge from London is of great encouragement to those artists and audiences that are drawn to this world city for its ability to innovate.”

An exhibition at the PLASA conference featured case studies of theaters that are already working to increase their sustainability, including the re-designed external lighting scheme at the National Theatre, the use of fuel-cell technology and low-energy lighting at the Arcola Theatre and the efforts being made by award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable to reconcile lighting design with carbon transparency.  It was complemented by a seminar program with speakers including Dr Ben Todd from the Arcola Theatre discussing his venue’s fuel cell, staff from the National Theatre discussing their change to ‘The Big Switch Off,’ dousing their moving light rig between shows, and a Technical Sustainability discussion forum hosted by theatre owners Ambassador Theatre Group and the Association of British Theatre Technicians.

Climate change is one of the recently-elected mayor’s key priorities, as it was with with his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, and today’s announcement builds on his commitment to reducing London’s carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2025. The Plan, compiled in close collaboration with a range of key stakeholders, offers practical advice to the industry on how emissions can be cut and includes a carbon calculator that can be used to identify areas of production that create the largest amount of emissions. Advice outlined in the plan includes identifying where changes need to be made, designating “green” responsibilities to staff, and writing “green” policies into contracts to ensure that suppliers are also helping to cut emissions.

The Plan also details a number of successful case studies such as a battery recycling scheme launched by the Mayor in partnership with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), which helps London’s theaters start recycling their waste batteries.

Parties to the research for and creation of the plan, among others, included Arup, ETC, Martin Professional, Philips, PixelRange, White Light, British Equity, the Association of British Theatre Technicians, Ambassador Theatre Group, the Arcola Theatre, the National Theatre, LiveNation, and Selecon.

Simply put, the Plan is a wealth of resources, information, and ideas that can be used by theaters of all sizes, in all locations, of all budgets, to reduce their environmental footprints and save on energy costs.  In particular, the carbon calculator provided on the Theatres Trust website will be of use to theaters in exactly pinpointing the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, giving them the concrete knowledge of which actions or materials most affect the environment.

One of the Plan’s surprises was its calculation that only 9% of a theater’s energy usage comes from its stage lighting, compared to 35% from heating and cooling of the auditorium space and front of house and 28% from heating and cooling of rehearsal spaces.

Links:

Original press release

Stage Directions article

ShareThis

Go to Source

To the uninitiated, an elevator ride in Austin’s newly-opened Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts might give the wrong impression. The green and orange metal skin that lines the interior of the elevator is replete with dents about the size of a ball-peen hammer. It wasn’t the carelessness of the construction workers who left their marks on the elevator walls, but Mother Nature herself.

You see, the sheet metal from which the elevator was finished used to be the roof of the previous incarnation of the building, and those marks are the hail damage from almost 50 years of Texas weather. It’s a reflection of the community’s enthusiasm for sustainability and environmental responsibility because more than 97 percent of the material taken from the deconstruction of the Palmer Auditorium, the building from which the Long Center arose, was recycled, including steel, concrete and dirt. Much of it, about 65 percent, found its way back into the Long Center. In addition to the inside of the elevator, sheets from the old metal roof can be found on the exterior of Michael & Susan Dell Hall, and the 2,400-seat concert hall. In addition, the glass panels recognizing major supporters of the center were fabricated from the recycled glass walls of the old facility.

The Long Center was borne of the desire to find a permanent home for the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin, as well as to replace the existing Palmer Auditorium, a multi-purpose venue that was plagued with problems including poor acoustics and a 10-foot high stage that was guaranteed to give the audience a stiff neck. After a false start in 1998, the post-dot-com-bust economy allowed enough funds to flow into the new project to get it off the ground. From the ashes of the Palmer came a first class venue that retains all of the good parts of the old facility — the downtown riverfront location, the familiar circular “ring beam” from the framework of the Palmer and the old Palmer stagehouse — while updating and improving the rest.

Fisher Dachs Associates came into the project as the theatre consultants in the early stages before the budget cuts forced the shuttling of one of the smaller performance spaces. By the time the dust settled from the partial demolition of the existing Palmer Auditorium, the Michael and Susan Dell Hall remained as the main venue, along with the Debra and Kevin Rollins Studio Theatre black box, the City Terrace outside, the Kodosky Donor Lounge, the West Donor Lounge and Lobby and the AT&T Education Room. “The priority,” said Associate Principal Bob Campbell, “was to make sure that the new home for the symphony, opera and ballet was pristine acoustically and functionally.” The largest cuts, he said, were in square footage to the lobby and the front of the building.

FDA began by working with the client to define the project, said Principal Joshua Dachs, before the architect was hired. “We did a study that resulted in two things,” said Dachs. “One was the concept for the building and also a building program — the brief defining the project, space by space, room by room. Our responsibility includes the overall disposition of the major elements — the auditorium is going here, where the loading dock will go, where do the dressing rooms go, where does the lobby go, how do you start to put the pieces together? The backstage planning and layout, front of house planning and layout and the geometry of the room — the plan, sections, the seating layout, sightlines, all were driven by Fisher Dachs, with the aggressive involvement of Mark Holden, the acoustical consultant (Jaffe Holden and Associates) and architects, Mike Nelson and Gino DeSantis from Zeidler Partnership Architects. There were a lot of iterations.”

Although FDA has been involved in a great number of designs for performing arts centers, including Radio City Music Hall, The Hollywood Bowl and the Lincoln Center, this project was like no other. “The unusual thing about this project,” Dachs said, “is dealing with the former Palmer Auditorium. The stage house was existing, and in order to get more fly space we dropped the entire stage by 10 feet.”

That was no small feat, considering the stage is solid concrete. While the crew was busy lowering the stage, they also installed HVAC plenums in the foundation so that it comes out through perforated stanchions in the seating. “It’s called displacement air,” said Campbell. “It brings air up into the lower area where people are and draws it out from above, rather than dropping it from above. It’s a lot more efficient.”

FDA’s involvement also included specifying all of the technology in the performance spaces including the lighting and rigging. The design of the lighting, Campbell said, was complicated because it had to serve the needs of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin. “The symphony requires not only fixed locations in the house, which are within the catwalks and within the orchestra ceiling shell,” he said, “but they also have a separate system which has very quiet dimming.”

The lighting that was designed for the symphony is not intended for use by the opera. “The opera shouldn’t use (the concert lighting) because when the theatre completes a changeover between opera and symphony events, it should not require a minimum four-hour crew call in order to re-focus,” Campbell added. “So there’s a fixed white light system for the symphony, and the opera would rig off of another system that’s part of the stage lighting system. When touring shows load in they can drop stage lighting trusses off a fore-stage grid located above the downstage acoustical reflector.”

The “quiet dimming” to which Campbell referred to are 96 ETC dual 20-amp Sensor “high-rise” dimmer modules with 800?sec rise time. The lighting system also includes another 636 dual 20-amp and 18 50-amp “Advanced Features” Sensor dimmers, 90 relay modules, 294 Source Fours, 25 Source Four Zooms, 48 Source Four PARs, a number of L&E MR-16 mini-strips and Runt cyc lights, Altman Q-Lites, Strand 8” 2K Fresnels, 24 Wybron Coloram InfoTrace Scrollers and three Lycian 1293 3K followspots. Also part of the Dell Hall is a group of High End Systems Studio Command 1200s, which lighting supervisor Todd Drga says are “super bright.”

The control system includes a pair of consoles, either of which many venues can only dream of having. There’s an ETC Eos and Flying Pig Systems Full Boar console. Both are networked to 40 remote network stations, and each station has an RJ-45 Ethernet connector and a 3-pin XLR jack that ties into the Leon Audio Cue Light System. Twelve ETCNet2 Portable DMX 2-Port Nodes provide network access and it’s all tied back to the front of house with a fiber optic backbone.

Next door in the Rollins Theatre is another system of ETC Sensor dimmers, Source Fours, L&E mini-strips and six Ocean Optics SeaChanger color changers. The console system comprises an ETC Expression with an Emphasis server.

San Antonio-based Texas Scenic supplied the rigging system as well as a custom fabricated automated system that adjusts soft goods in the house for acoustic dampening and control. The stage rigging system re-uses the Palmer gridiron and it’s still a manual counterweight system.

To help staff the production team, Director of Operations David Poole hired in Drga along with Frank Cortez as rigging supervisor, Jim Larkin as technical director and assistant technical directors Scott Braudt, Jeff Strange and Eric Miller.

“We’re trying to create a culture that’s different,” Drga said. “We want to be a top notch service provider.”

If the grand opening gala was any indication, then they just might achieve that goal. The two-day event featured performances by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin on Friday night and Asleep at the Wheel, Lyle Lovett, Rick Trevino, Flaco Jimenez and the unofficial ambassador of Austin, Willie Nelson. Austin-based lighting designer Tony Tucci and associate lighting designer Chad Jung hired in Phil Gilbert, formerly of Austin but now residing in New York, to program the automated lighting and four High End Systems DL.2s. Upstaging provided a circular truss and a handful of Vari*Lite VL3500s, some VL5s and High End Systems Showguns. J.T. McDonald, who happens to live in Austin, was the production supervisor for Upstaging.

For many Austinites, including band leader Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, the new incarnation of the old Palmer Auditorium had a very familiar feel along with its shiny new image. The old dome may be gone, but the history remains a part of the new center. Benson remarked that he had first played on the stage of the Palmer Auditorium with country legend Ernest Tubb in the early ‘70s when he first moved to Austin and Elvis graced its stage long before that. The Clash made the video for “Rock the Casbah” in the early ‘80s and everyone from the Cars to Van Cliburn played there.

“The grid over the stage is the old grid from the Palmer Auditorium,” Campbell reminds us. “And the wood…a lot of that is re-used material. It was terrific talking to a lot of the contractors who had been to all of these concerts (in the past) and they were excited to work in this space to make it into something else.”

And if you listen closely, you can almost hear the last strains of the reverb from the old Palmer Auditorium. Rock the casbah indeed.

Links:

The Long Center’s sustainability statement

Article about the Center in LiveDesign Online

ShareThis

Go to Source

Santa Monica College will unveil its new Performing Arts Center on September 20 with a gala opening featuring chanteuse Barbara Cook.  The Center is comprised of the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage, a 499-seat theater, and the Edye Second Space, a 99-seat black box.  Although it does not appear that the College aimed for a fully green building or LEED accreditation, the Broad Stage incorporates some green elements, such as building elements constructed with sustainably-grown Honduran mahogany, HVAC systems located beneath the floor rather than above (which makes for a more efficient overall system as well as greater audience comfort), and a lobby ventilated by outside air. More information on the Center’s environmental attributes will be posted here as it becomes available. Link: The Jewish Journal, “Premier Theater Complex Blossoms of West Side”, by Tom Teicholz, 9/10/08

ShareThis

Go to Source

Mike Lawler, the author of the above article in this month’s issue of American Theatre magazine, asks, “Have our theatre artists carried [a] sense of ecological consideration with them into the green rooms, through the wings and onto the stages — or has it been left at home with the farmer’s-market-procured organic broccoli and the fuel-efficient Corolla?” The article is a shot across the bow that challenges theater professionals of all stripes to undertake immediate and far-reaching change in their institutions.

Lawler runs the excellent blog Ecotheater, and (full disclosure) is writing a piece on the Green Theater Initiative to run in the October issue of Stage Directions.

A definition of the terms “sustainable” and “sustainability”, in broad use among environmentalists, can be found here.

ShareThis

Go to Source

In response to prevailing environmental and economic concerns, Shakespeare & Company is launching a new green initiative to help both its patrons and its employees find ways to be environmentally conscious while keeping more cash in their pockets, instead of putting it into their gas tanks.

Paraphrasing from Hamlet, the Do But Greenly program includes a top-to-bottom review of ways the Company can increase its own environmental responsibility and that of its 200 summer employees, as well as new ticket discounts meant to make it easier for the community to see great theatre and experience intellectual renewal during anxious economic times–through environmentally friendly methods. It is also donating 10% of the box office revenue from two upcoming performances to Slow Food of Western Massachusetts, a locally grown movement encouraging environmental responsibility in agriculture and the pleasures of traditionally grown and prepared food. For more information about Do But Greenly and its related programming and discounts, consult www.shakespeare.org, contact Publicity Director Elizabeth Aspenlieder at (413) 637-1199 ext 110 or Aspenlieder@shakespeare.org, or contact the Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or BoxOffice@shakespeare.org.

Two new discounts are introduced this month in order to encourage patrons to carpool on their way to the theatre. Starting July 23 and running through August 27, every Wednesday will be Cheaper By The Carload Night. Simply put, the bigger the group arriving in one automobile, the cheaper the tickets. Three passengers arriving in one car will pay a total of $90 for that night’s show; groups of six or seven passengers will pay a total of $72. (Full pricing structure is available here.) Additionally, the Company is offering Four For Two Thursdays throughout the rest of the summer. Every Thursday, patrons may purchase four tickets for the price of two to that evening’s performance in Founders’ Theatre or the new Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. Shakespeare & Company actively encourages patrons taking advantage of this discount to carpool together, though this is not required.

Seeking to find ways to increase its own energy efficiency and environmental responsibility, Shakespeare & Company will be receiving a top-to-bottom energy audit by Pittsfield-based Center for Ecological Technology. The Company is also looking for ways it may serve these concerns through its day-to-day operation. Unused bicycles on the 70 Kemble Street campus, many in disrepair, have been refurbished with help from Berkshire Bike and Board in Great Barrington, and turned into a fleet of lending bikes. Company employees are encouraged to use these bikes whenever possible, particularly for trips into the Lenox village. A vegetable garden has been created on campus, to help cut food and transportation costs while providing fresh produce to the Company’s kitchen, where it daily serves employees, artistic staff, and visiting actors participating in training programs. A “back to basics” approach toward more aggressive recycling practices and basic energy conservation has been instituted.

Additionally, the new Production and Performing Arts Center, including the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, is an example of reusing an existing building rather than demolishing. Approximately 70 tons of steel, light gauge metal, brick and concrete were recycled during its construction. The Center is equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and air circulation systems meant to maximize responsible energy usage.

“It’s not news to anybody that we’re all feeling the pinch at the gas pump and check-out line this year,” says Communications Director Mike Clary. “So we want to do what we can to help out. Each of the performances on our three stages this season is never going to happen again. We don’t want our friends and supporters to miss out if money is tight this year–we want to make it easier for them to join us. What patrons do with the money they save is up to them, but we encourage everyone to get some friends and share the car ride. Whoever wants to do but greenly will save some greenly, and there will be a little more money in their pockets the next time they’re at the gas pump.”

As an additional part of this green initiative, the Company will donate 10% of its box office receipts from the July 24th performance of All’s Well That Ends Well and the August 21st performance of Othello to Slow Food of Western Massachusetts, to help support its varied nutrition and green agriculture programs and community events. In partnership with Slow Food, the Company presents All’s Well Who Eat Well on Thursday, July 24 from 6:00pm to 7:45pm. Tasty Elizabethan morsels will be served, prepared with locally grown produce according to recipes created by Francine Segan, author of Shakespeare’s Kitchen. Berkshire County residents may take advantage of their 40% discount, or alternately take advantage of the Four For Two Thursday discount. Tickets to the All’s Well Who Eat Well food event are $12 for Slow Food members and $15 for the general public. It promises to be a mix of good friends, good food, and great theatre. Guests will learn about Slow Food worldwide, as well as their activities in the Berkshires.

Slow Food is an international organization committed to the principles and benefits of sustainable local agriculture and to the growth of healthy nutrition worldwide. The Western Massachusetts chapter works with local students and community health organizations to get nutritious, locally grown food onto people’s tables. For more information about Slow Food of Massachusetts, contact chapter director Dominic Palumbo of Moon in the Pond Farm in Sheffield at (413) 229-3092 or email info@slowfoodmass.org.

This effort is part of a new tradition at Shakespeare & Company, to support selected community organizations through a combination of financial donations and associated programming. Last year, 10% of box office receipts from two shows were donated to Railroad Street Youth Project, and the Company hosted a special roundtable discussion on race and health care before a performance of Blue/Orange, a play that addresses those themes. In 2006, similar nights were held for Hospice Care of Berkshire County.

More information about Shakespeare and Company’s “Do But Greenly” program can be found here, and an interview about the program with marketing director Mike Clary can be found here.

ShareThis

Go to Source

Asserting that, “As we launch headlong into the 21st century, sustainability is going to become a major issue for our industry,” then president Steven L. Peters of the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM) announced the formation of a Sustainability Task Force late last year.  As Jeff Blosser, executive direction of the Oregon Convention Center, notes, “These words really didn’t mean much five years ago, but now we all have to pay attention and react to this new operating model. The triple bottom line is real and needs our attention for energy conservation, savings in dollars spent and improving the environment every day.”

The task force has three specific charges:

• To improve awareness of sustainability issues in all sectors of the public assembly industry
• To create opportunities for the exchange of ideas and information in support of sustainable facilities and best practices
• To develop practices and procedures that will support sustainability efforts in public assembly facilities around the world

Current president Robyn L. Williams, at IAAM’s July conference and trade show, voiced her commitment to growing the already significant green awareness and practices among event and meeting facilities.  She announced that the task force will become a permanent committee deserving of further support from the IAAM Foundation, and that it furthermore will expand its reach and mission through research, education, and chapter meetings.

The Sustainability Task Force is overseen by the IAAM Industry Affairs Council, and is co-chaired by Gemma Prosser from Birmingham, England, and Allyson Jackson from Salt Lake City.  For more information, contact Steven Peters at speters@venuworks.com.

IAAM is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to managers of public assembly facilities such as arenas, amphitheaters, convention centers/exhibit halls, performing arts venues, stadiums and university complexes.

Links:

“Going for the Green: Sustainability Makes Sense When It Comes to Your Venue” in Facility Manager

“Becoming Green Giants: Learning to Walk the Talk When It Comes to Sustainability Programs” in Facility Manager, with some excellent ideas of steps to take to go green

IAAM’s May 2008 webinar on implementing green cleaning practices

ShareThis

Go to Source