Venue Design

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The McCoy Center for the Arts is located in the heart of the historic New Albany village center and adjacent to the New Albany-Plain Local School Learning Community Campus on land donated by the New Albany Company. The arts center is 35,000 square feet and includes:

• 786-seat auditorium with balcony seating
• Partial fly loft
• Lobby
• Rehearsal studio
• Dance studio
• Scene shop
• Classrooms

The facility is designed by Cleveland architectural firm, Westlake, Reed & Leskosky. The building's acoustical properties are designed by Jaffe Holden Acoustics. Both firms are recognized nationally for their expertise in designing theatres and auditoriums.

The design of the building has been carefully scaled and articulated to strengthen and preserve existing campus and community scales and patterns. Like most of the existing campus and civic buildings found in New Albany, the main octagon-shaped theatre (audience chamber) and stage house are brick masonry volumes.

Stage and performance support spaces as well as an educational classroom are designed within two volumes clad in white clapboard and wood panels, which relate to the school's Administration Building to the north and are more residential in scale. The Rehearsal Room volume is positioned on the orthogonal geometry of the existing campus buildings and serves as an anchor or terminus, linking the existing school buildings and student circulation to the facility.

The orientation and massing of the transparent elliptical-shaped Lobby links these distinct programming spaces on one level and provides natural light throughout the day with views out to the surrounding landscape. At night, the lobby becomes a glowing beacon and living room for the community, used for gathering, performances and special events.

The main formal entrance is from the west side, where several existing mature trees have been preserved and define the outdoor terrace and entry portico that will be used as an outdoor gathering space before and after an event.This West Dependency includes an entry vestibule, box office and concessions area. There is also a second entrance from the north, which will be used on a daily basis by students and will serve as the front door to the school campus. The East Dependency includes Lobby support space as well as the main Restrooms for the facility.

The acoustical requirements for the room were critical, particularly for the students. The theatre has been designed as a multi-use facility for music, dance and theatre. Each of these art forms required their own special natural acoustic environments and so, the theatre has been designed with the ability to vary the acoustic environment for each of these presentations.

The octagon plan was inspired by earlier theatre precedents and is a characteristic form of the American "Opera House" of the period just after the end of the Civil War. The surviving 19th century theatres with this type of plan have a nice balance between formality and playfulness, and so it's a pleasant, intimate shape for the type of community facility envisioned for New Albany.

In order to provide outstanding natural musical acoustic results, the perimeter walls of the theatre have been designed and will be constructed of a hard, dense terra cotta clay tile, which has a deep red appearance. Maple wood will be used throughout the interior to accent several important elements in the room, which will provide a sense of warmth and intimacy.