Touches of Technology

Every night the Orange County Performing Arts Center is open, a meticulous recording will be made and later inspected by technical operations director Philip Mosbo. Mosbo’s recording, however, won’t resonate with the silky shimmer of violin strings; instead it will be a computer printout charting the performance of an innovative air-conditioning system, one of the many technologically advanced touches in the center’s design.

This air-conditioning system obtains cool air not as the result of electrical cooling but from massive blocks of ice that fill two basement-level tanks the size of railroad cars. The system has been given energy rebates and an energy-efficiency award from Southern California Edison, because water will be frozen in the hours after midnight, when energy demand is lowest. The system will also help minimize traditional air-conditioning noise.

Maintaining a constant, comfortable temperature will be a complex task, Mosbo says, because of the large number of variables that go into the formula, ranging from the number and intensity of lights and the size of the audience to the type of performance. That’s why Mosbo will be depending on a computer printout of the system’s performance to guide him.

“It will be harder to estimate (air-conditioning needs) on one-night productions,” Mosbo says. “But on extended runs, we’ll get a computer readout of peak energy needs, of when cooling was and wasn’t adequate, and from that we can make adjustments for the next performance. We’ll have several types (of pre-programmed settings): opera, full house; opera, half house; symphony, full house, etc.”

From that computer-assisted air-conditioning system, to a sectional “fly-away” orchestra shell, to retractable sound-absorbing banners, the goal of the center’s designers and builders has been to anticipate every need of the range of performers who will appear at the center in years to come.

These design requirements have been realized not in a “one-size-fits-all” building but in one building with sizes for all.

“The degree of adjustability is more complete, more advanced than any other hall of its kind,” says John Von Szeliski, principal theater-design consultant for the center.

Indeed, almost everything about the center can be raised, lowered, increased, decreased, extended, withdrawn, expanded, contracted, added or removed, depending on the user’s needs.

The proscenium opening, for example, is adjustable vertically and horizontally from 25x52 to 45x68 feet, to accommodate various types of performances: large orchestras, plays, solo recitals. The speaker cluster at the top of the stage, forming the upper edge of the proscenium, is part of the house sound system and is motorized for easy raising and lowering.

A sectional “fly-away” orchestra shell will be used for performances of symphonic music. The rear, main section is nearly four feet thick and is connected to a series of gantry cranes. When not needed, the shell can be raised and stored behind suspended theatrical backdrops, utilizing space that otherwise would be wasted. The other portions of the shell’s frame have been constructed in telescoping layers that retract into the floor. “The whole process is highly mechanized, so it can be done with few personnel,” Mosbo says. “In operating a place like this, budget is always a big consideration.”

A special storage compartment next to the stage will house a piano, to minimize disruption when there is a soloist in one portion of a concert.

A projection booth is equipped to accommodate slides, which will be used for Supertitles during opera performances, as well as for 16- and 35-millimeter films.

The theater has been mechanized, automated and computerized to reduce costs and to speed turnaround times between productions. The ability to move quickly from one type of performance to another is essential to the center’s ability to schedule, for example, a concert between the closing of an opera and the opening of a ballet, Mosbo says.

“A lot of things that have been done are influenced by the fact that this is a multipurpose facility,” Mosbo says. “If we can’t change from opera to ballet in 8 to 10 hours, then we can’t put a concert in the middle if it takes a day to get to it and a day to get back.” He also says that measures to streamline costs will help make the center less expensive for local performing groups.

And there will be no conflict for performing groups preparing for subsequent performances if the main stage is being used. The floor of the main rehearsal studio has been built to the same specifications as the main stage, to provide dancers with a rehearsal surface that has the same spring as the main stage.

“We want to have as much activity as possible to cut down on the number of dark days without cutting down on quality,” Mosbo says.

A number of the center’s special features will ensure the quality of sound under various conditions.

The center features a technically advanced sound system for performances that require amplification or, in the words of center technicians, “sound reinforcement.” To take advantage of recent changes in technology, the center’s sound system will use state-of-the-art equipment, much of which did not exist when the theater was designed.

“Participation between our office and the acoustic consultants has once again engendered a healthy respect for ‘less is more,’ ” says Paul Magil of Paul Alan Magil & Associates in Costa Mesa, which designed the center’s audio, video and communications systems. “The goal is always to achieve a natural and balanced acoustic quality. We have enough perspective and confidence not to use reinforcement where it’s not needed.”

There will be a variety of adjustable devices within the theater to alter the acoustic properties.

For sound absorption, retractable acoustic banners are mounted in large, triangle-shaped light housings above the seats. The banners, similar to retractable window shades, are motorized so that they can conveniently be extended or withdrawn, depending on the amount of sound absorption desired. “It’s not unusual to have variable absorptive surfaces, but usually it’s simply curtains on the walls that can be opened or drawn closed,” Mosbo says.

Acoustic settings used at various performances will be compiled by acousticians into a catalogue of basic settings for different types of events and attendance levels, such as opera, 100% attendance; ballet, 80% attendance, etc. At first the banners and panels will be adjusted according to computer settings, but they can be fine-tuned afterward by hand.

New technological solutions will combat the old acoustic problem of “time alignment.” With any amplification system that uses multiple speakers, a time-alignment problem is created by sound that emanates from more than one point. “Until recently,” audio-video consultant Magil says, “the tools had not been available to us to properly analyze (time-alignment) effects, make adjustments and verify results. But now we are able to address that.”

The answer, Magil says, lies in electronically delaying some signals to equalize the different path lengths from various speakers. Ideally, then, even signals originating from different physical locations will reach the listener as if they’d emanated from a single point in space. But Magil added: “Lord knows, sound is terribly subjective. No engineer or scientist expects to put into mathematical terms something that will be universally pleasing.”

Adds design consultant Von Szeliski: “We’re doing the acoustics more carefully and more precisely calculated in terms of design.”

In the event that a problem arises that requires immediate attention, a technician or director can go directly from one point to the other via an underground access tunnel. In most facilities, those who need to go from the technical booths to the backstage area must take a time-wasting circuitous route.

And for those with hearing disabilities, the center is equipped with an infrared sound transmission system. (See story on Page 142.)

Many of the center’s special components were put in place in anticipation of live television, cable TV, film and videotape applications.

Says Magil: “We and the entire Performing Arts Center design crew share the philosophy that new technology can be a marvelous thing and can be a blessing. For our part, we have tried to strike a balance between new technology and proven technology, so that we (not only) avail ourselves of the best available equipment on the marketplace but also that which has a track record.”

The technology includes complete in-house wiring for audio and video equipment, wired and wireless microphones, two-way cable television, satellite hookups, headphone communications and more. Throughout the facility, a number of plug-in outlets for video and audio equipment are wired to outlets backstage to connect with trucks parked outside, for recording or remote broadcasts. These plug-in outlets will make broadcasts less disruptive than in older facilities, where heavy cables must frequently be laid throughout the hall and new access holes drilled in floors or walls.

“We’re drawing on the experience of facilities like the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where TV requires different camera positions every time,” Von Szeliski says. “They are always boring holes in the concrete every time a crew comes through, to accommodate TV runs. I can’t say we’ve anticipated every demand that every director might have, but we have talked to dozens and dozens of directors about where they might like cameras. We tried to imagine every kind of angle and then designed permanent cable access points.”

Abundant redundant wiring is in place so that any interrupted signal can immediately be rerouted to keep a production going. And numerous empty conduits have been provided to handle requirements that have not already been specifically addressed. “Everyone on the design team,” Magil says, “tried to avoid the old hang-up that ‘you can’t get there from here.’ ”

Anticipating broadcasting needs, heavy-duty, 60-ampere, 5,000-watt electrical wiring has been provided to accommodate television equipment. And the building has two-way video capability, so that the center not only can receive signals from local cable companies but also can originate and send programming back to the cable company.

For backstage viewing and communication, video monitors and loudspeakers will enable the reception of audio and video signals in offices, rehearsal rooms, dressing rooms and backstage. The extensive signal distribution network permits different combinations of audio and video signals to be sent to--or received from--separate locations when more than one performance is in progress. An extensive headset communication network will link technicians, performers and others who need to be in contact with one another.

In addition to the sound-reinforcing main speaker cluster atop the proscenium, the theater has catwalks over the seats wired with additional loudspeaker and video circuits to provide audio or video special effects for theatrical or other productions.

The center is ready to handle transmission of computer data in events that call for such activity. Computer information can be sent to points throughout the theater over video lines. And the use of wireless microphones has been made easier by the installation of several receptor antennas. Instead of requiring each performing group to place its own receptor antennas, they have been installed in nine locations to pick up signals from wireless mikes from virtually any spot in the theater.

Even rehearsal rooms will be responsive to the needs of individual performers: Reversible acoustic panels in the walls will customize the acoustic properties for each musician or performing group.

Lighting will be computer-controlled, using equipment similar to systems used by touring companies. “Because we are primarily a road house, as opposed to a producer, we chose equipment compatible with most touring attractions,” Mosbo says.

Once again, the theater’s asymmetrical design necessitates special provisions in lighting “because standards you expect in a theater either don’t exist here or exist in a different form,” Mosbo says. One example is the row of lights near the back of a theater, traditionally known as the “balcony rail.” Because the center’s balconies are staggered at different levels and do not run from one side of the theater to the other, it will have no balcony rail of lights.

The center’s audio and lighting control booths are positioned in the theater’s primary seating level. Mosbo says that this will allow the technicians to adjust acoustics and lights from a vantage point closest to where the majority of concert-goers will sit.

Even the occurrence of natural disaster has been anticipated. Architects studied local flood history, and plans were altered so that potential floods could be dealt with. The foundation of the entire building was raised one foot higher than the original design. “A 50-year flood (the terminology used by flood-control engineers for a flood so severe that it would only be expected to occur that often) would call for an unusual amount of drainage,” Von Szeliski says. “So the building was raised to handle even the most extreme flooding conditions.

“As for the rest of the hall, I can’t say that it’s all wildly innovative. Its main virtue is that the design team went to great lengths to see that the support space was as thoroughly thought out as possible. Maybe you can’t go around and look at a lot of earth-shaking stuff, but it is very, very complete.”