Collaboration is fundamental to the mission of the Old Town School of Folk Music. Founded in 1957, the thriving Chicago nonprofit offers multicultural music, dance, theater, and visual arts courses and concerts, with users running the gamut from “Wiggleworm” tots to senior citizens. The school serves about 6,000 students a week, and performances attract 85,000 people annually. Pros often jam with rank beginners, reflecting a spirit of teamwork inspired by the institution’s folk roots.
Despite continuing success, OTS has always operated in reused buildings. Its current facilities include a 19th century banquet hall (renovated in the 1980s) and a 1930s library repurposed as the school’s headquarters in the late 1990s. When the school decided to squeeze its first purpose-built facility into a tight site across the street from its HQ, the Building Team’s collaborative skills proved a good match for the OTS vibe.
The new 28,000-sf East Building includes small spaces for music instruction and practice, a multipurpose hall for performances and parties, three skylit dance studios, and a public “front porch” entry hall. Because room-to-room sound leakage was a longstanding headache, excellent acoustics were a priority.
The open staircase, with stylized portraits of music legends, is the primary feature of the entrance lobby, or “front porch.” The multi-story “feature wall” creates acoustical separation between public areas and the music and dance classrooms, but interior windows maintain a sense of connection and distribute natural light. Soft seating invites informal jam sessions, and the terrazzo floor is studded with recycled beer bottles—a wry nod to the historic connection between music and libations.
The site, on a busy commercial avenue, posed significant issues that became more evident upon further investigation. The water table was high, and any excavation deeper than 11 feet would require tedious permitting through the city’s Office of Underground Construction. The proposed building height, though not unprecedented in the neighborhood, would violate recent zoning language created to prevent development of tall condo buildings.
These factors derailed initial plans to create a four-story facility with a basement. OTS and its architect, VOA Associates, deleted executive offices and storage from the program, resulting in a three-story, no-basement building plus a rooftop mechanical zone. (A return to earlier zoning language was negotiated to address the height restriction, and some of desired building functions were accommodated in a small storefront next to main OTS building.)
Bill Ketcham, AIA, LEED AP, Principal at VOA, says, “We didn’t lose anything that was mission-critical. Through a legitimate budgeting process we managed to maintain quality; I don’t think we were hurt very badly on the value enhancement.”
In addition to owner’s rep The AT Group, acoustical specialist Talaske was an early player. “We knew we needed a highly qualified acoustical consultant from day one, so we didn’t screw that up,” says Ketcham.
Seen from inside a music practice room, the feature wall consists of an inner layer that incorporates fire-rated glazing and fabric-covered acoustical panels, and an outer layer on the public circulation side, which includes glass-fiber-reinforced gypsum frames surrounding the windows. The walls are isolated from each other down to the foundation.
Bulley & Andrews was also hired early, in part because the construction manager had submitted a detailed analysis of how the project could be staged without snarling traffic. “This was quite compelling to us,” says Ketcham. “The building takes up the entire lot, and there’s no parking, so the plan was to frame out the front bay last to allow for staging within the building. Old Town does have a parking lot a couple doors down, and they worked out a plan to use that lot for staging, with the alley available for moving people and materials. Major deliveries were brought in the front during off hours. Lincoln Avenue is pretty congested, but most of the retailers there also do street loading. There was very good coordination with the alderman’s office and the local merchants.”
OTS Executive Director Bau Graves says, “We did community meetings prior to the start, and Bulley & Andrews’ superintendent on the site continually talked with everybody about everything going on. We also offered biweekly tours, and I know most of our neighbors went through at least once, and several more than once, during the construction.”
Notable features of the project include:
• Energy conservation. Operating costs were top-of-mind for OTS, in light of experiences with its headquarters project. The former library, considered sustainable at the time of its renovation with electric heat, had proved costly to operate once the local utility’s promotional rate lock expired. OTS selected natural gas and high-efficiency HVAC for the new LEED Gold building.
• Acoustical design. Robust steel framing and sophisticated isolation technology offer sound control. A full-height “feature wall,” punctuated with recessed slot windows, visually and acoustically separates the music and dance areas from the public lobby.
• Flexible space. Bleachers in Szold Hall, a 2,100-sf room on the second floor, can support 150 seats for concerts but fold back to open the column-free space for dance classes and receptions.
• Contextual design. The front façade echoes the Art Deco library with vertical windows and orange brick. Decorative precast concrete panels feature the word “music” in ancient and modern languages, recalling the library’s decorative terra cotta plaques. Side facades are primarily gray-painted steel: a plain, money-saving treatment that helps downplay the bulk of the building when viewed from the north or south.
Eighteen months after completion, Graves has nothing but praise for those who made the project a reality. “The Bulley & Andrews team, the VOA team, the owner’s rep, all the main players worked through a lot of issues that any job of this scale will represent, and did it with a great deal of tact and forbearance. People told me we’d never want to see our architect again after this kind of job, but we all ended up being good friends.”
Project summary
SILVER AWARD
Old Town School of Folk Music, East Building
Chicago
BUILDING TEAM
Submitting firm: VOA Associates (architect)
Owner: Old Town School of Folk Music
Owner’s rep: The AT Group
Structural: Matrix Engineering
MEP: Primera Engineers Ltd.
Civil: Gary A. Wiss
Acoustical: Talaske
CM: Bulley & Andrews LLC
GENERAL INFORMATION
Project size: 28,070 sf
Construction cost: $13 million
Construction time: Summer 2010 to fall 2012
Delivery method: CM at risk
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
AIA to Congress: Act now to jump start building sector of economy
Tampa-based architect, Mickey Jacob, FAIA, unveiled the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Rebuild & Renew plan for both short- and long-term economic recovery to the House Committee on Small Business at a hearing October 7th.
| Aug 11, 2010
National Intrepid Center of Excellence tops out at Walter Reed
SmithGroup and The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (IFHF), a non-profit organization supporting the men and women of the United States Armed Forces and their families, celebrated the overall structural completion of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), an advanced facility dedicated to research, diagnosis and treatment of military personnel and veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury.
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, HDR top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 100 largest institutional building design firms
A ranking of the Top 100 Institutional Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Walt Disney Family Museum planned in San Francisco
Construction is under way on a new museum dedicated to the man behind the Disney empire. Set to open this fall in San Francisco, the Walt Disney Family Museum will feature 10 galleries, starting with Disney's beginnings on a Missouri farm.
| Aug 11, 2010
SAFTI FIRST hires Tim Nass as National Sales Manager
SAFTI FIRST, a leading USA manufacturer of fire rated glazing and framing systems, is pleased to announce the addition of Tim Nass as National Sales Manager. In his new role, Tim will be working closely with architects and contract glaziers in selecting the appropriate and most economical fire rated glazing solution for their project. He will also be coordinating SAFTI FIRST’s extensive network of architectural representatives throughout the United States.
| Aug 11, 2010
NCARB welcomes new board of directors
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) introduces its Board of Directors for FY10, who were installed during the culmination of the Council’s 90th Annual Meeting and Conference in Chicago.
| Aug 11, 2010
Berkebile wins $100K award for commitment to environment
Robert Berkebile, the founding principal of BNIM Architects and a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council, has been selected to receive a $100,000 Heinz Award. The award honors his role in promoting green building design and for his commitment and action toward restoring social, economic, and environmental vitality to America’s communities through sustainable architecture and planning.
| Aug 11, 2010
Polshek Partnership unveils design for University of North Texas business building
New York-based architect Polshek Partnership today unveiled its design scheme for the $70 million Business Leadership Building at the University of North Texas in Denton. Designed to provide UNT’s 5,400-plus business majors the highest level of academic instruction and professional training, the 180,000-sf facility will include an open atrium, an internet café, and numerous study and tutoring rooms—all designed to help develop a spirit of collaboration and team-oriented focus.