TECHNICAL RESEARCH PROJECT

GUTHRIE THEATER M O L LY D A L S I N / A N N A M A H N K E / C H R I S M A S S E Y

A t e l i e r s J e A n n o u v e l

Located in Paris, France, Jean Nouvel Design is a multidisciplinary team working in the fields of architecture. furniture design, interior design, scenography, and visual communications.

“I ’m not a designer”, says Jean Nouvel. “I ’m an architect who makes design.”

Jean Nouvel’s œuvre follows the tradition of philosopher architects who design whole worlds of all dimensions. An urbanist and an architect, Jean Nouvel is also a designer because he rejects labels: “I see no difference between when I design a chair and when I imagine a building. I see every project as a complete design program in itself. For every challenge posed, I seek the ‘elementary’ object whose finished form corresponds to an idea. It ’s always a fitt ing and unique answer that bears witness, culturally and technically, to our times and to our civi l ization.”

“My interest has always been in an architecture which reflects the modernity of our epoch as opposed to the rethinking of historical references. My work deals with what is happening now—our techniques and materials, what we

are capable of doing today.” -Jean Nouvel

Nouvel inherited his love of gathering knowledge from his parents, who were high-school teachers in the small town of Sarlat in the Périgord in southwestern France. (They sti l l l ive there in retirement.) His father taught history and geography — the subjects that would become the two governing vectors of Nouvel’s architecture. Nouvel wanted to be a painter, but his parents insisted that he would never earn a l iving and urged him to be a mathematician or scientist instead. “I tr ied to find another way,” he told me. “I said, ‘Maybe I can do architecture.”’ After a year of study, he failed the entry examination for architecture school in Bordeaux, which turned out to be a blessing. When he took the test again in Paris the following year, he came in first. That distinction would enable him while sti l l a student at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts to obtain a position as assistant to Claude Parent and Paul Viri l io, an architect and a cultural theorist, respectively, whose experimental architecture firm deeply influenced his outlook.

Nouvel’s architectural goal is to tell a story. Unlike typical architects who begin the design process with a sketch pad or scale models, Nouvel starts with an idea he can express in words. “Everyone is a product of his epoch, for me, I was born in France after the war; I was in the milieu of Structuralist thinkers. If I don’t have a good analysis of something, I am lost.” Once Nouvel examines his given conditions and decides that the best architectural solution is, say, a skyscraper without visible base and summit, or a mechanized geometric facade that casts filigreed shadows, he can get going. But to this cerebral process he appends a counterweight: the sensuous love of the material components of a building. “What I like is the poétique of the situation.”

Once the idea is in place, Nouvel’s team moves forward with exploration the models, large and small.

AJN’s past projects include:

1987 – Nemausus 1 (Housing, 114 apartments), Nîmes, France1987 – Arab World Institute, Paris, France1994 – Fondation Cartier pour l ’Art Contemporain Paris, France1995 – Eurali l le, (Retail / Office / Housing), Lil le, France2000 – Culture and Convention Center Lucerne, Switzerland2000 – Palais de Justice (Nantes), Nantes, France2001 – Golden Angel (Zlatý Anděl), Prague, Czech Republic2002 – Monolith of Expo.02, Murten, Switzerland2003 – Torre Agbar (Office), Barcelona, Spain2004 – Museum Two, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea2005 – Reina Sofía Museum expansion, Madrid, Spain2006 – Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France2006 – Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, MN, USA2009 – Copenhagen Concert Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark2010 – 100 Eleventh Avenue, Manhattan, NY, USA.2010 – Serpentine Gallery temporary pavil ion, London2010 – One New Change, London2011 – Tower 25 in Nicosia2012 – Doha 9 skyscraper, Doha, Qatar2012 – City Hall, Montpell ier

PLANNING TO REALIZATION

2001 - 2006

BUILDING TYPE: cultural, theater performance, public restaurant/cafe

SUPPORT STRUCTURE

CONSTRUCTION: solid construction

ROOF CONSTRUCTION: fl at roof

SUPPORT STRUCTURE

MATERIAL: reinforced concrete, steel frame

FACADE MATERIAL: stainless-steel panels,

ROOF MATERIAL: concrete, reinforced concrete

INTERIOR WORK MATERIAL: concrete, sheet-rock, accoustic panels

g u t h r i e t h e A t e r

Nouvel describes the intention for the Guthrie theater to be “a machine for the senses. It creates the stage upon which the city performs before its cit izens. It recalls the perspective machines used by painters since the Renaissance. It is a borrowing from the history of painting deployed again in a history of looking, of urban contemplation, sometimes an idealized scene of public l i fe, sometimes a picturesque ensemble, or a vision shattered, distorted and forever recomposed,” “a dimension of time and movement. One thinks, conceives and reads a building in terms of sequences. To erect a building is to predict and seek effects of contrast and linkage bound up with the succession of spaces through which one passes.”

The firm is known for weaving art, history, cultural references and new building technologies into provocative architectural designs. Like many firms, AJN util izes digital modeling and drafting software, as well as BIM, in order to conceive the technical complexities of many of their designs. In terms of building technology, Nouvel employs an express interest in creating pure forms, geometries, and spaces and then perverting them with the use of reflection, shadow, transparency, half-l ight, and il lusionary or concealed structural systems. With the Guthrie, the cantilevered “endless bridge,” spanning 178 feet long and 30 feet wide, is the most iconic structural design within the building. Full-storey glazing (connected by spider-connections) of tinted glass, and stabil ized by glass fins, is used to create the i l lusion of the bridge leading to the sky. Nouvel also frequently uses printed, etched, or i l luminated graphis in many of his designs. For the Guthrie, stainless steal blue panels with printed graphics from past theater productions adorn the facade.

One of the most technically challenging design constructions was the accoustic ceil ing panels of the Proscenium and thrust stage. The panels had to match the exact location and angle needed for maximum audio performance. The panels were set to an x, y, z coordinate on a 3-D model provided by Talaske Group.At the peak stages of construciton the crew consisted of 80 tradesworkers working not only to meet tight deadlines but also to cover the massive size of the building. In order for the work to move smoothly, the contractor McGough and the project architect had to do extensive pre-planning.

CLIENT : Guthrie TheaterFIRM : Ateliers Jean NouvelDESIGN ARCHITECT : Jean NouvelProject team: Vincent LaPlante Nathalie Sasso Eric Stephanie Anna Ugolini Damien Faraut Michel Calzada Athina Faraut Edwin Herkens Julie Fernandez Yann Salmon Jacques Le Marquet Michel Cova

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION : Architect of Record : Architectural All iance with Bertram Beissel Principal : Tom DeAngelo, FAIA Project Manager : Bob Zakaras, AIA Advisor to Jean Nouvel : Hubert Tonka Fluid : Michaud & Cooley Structural Engineers : Ericksen & Roed General Contractor : McGough (McGouch used a 100% union crew)SUBCONTRACTORS: Olympic Wall Systems Acounstical consultants : Talaske Group, Chicago, and Kahle Acoustics, Brussels Team : Eckhard Kahle, Kahle Acoustics (acoustics concept design and European design team coordination); in collaboration with Rick Talaske, Gregory Miller and Jonathan Laney, Talaske, Chicago (acoustics and audio-design, construction oversight and commissioning). Theater Planners : Ducks Scéno, France, and Fisher Dachs Associates, New York. Bald Eagle Erectors Lighting : L’Observatoire International

TIMELINE2003. May 26. The Minnesota legislature approved $25 mill ion in a state bonding bil l 2003, Aug 28. The parking lot previously occupying the Guthrie site closed 2003, Sept 8. The official 2003. Late Oct. Dril l ing of caissons begins2004 Sept. Stainless steel cladding begins2004, Sept 27 until Thanksgiving West River Parkway is closed for the construction of the cantilever2005, Feb 28. Construction of the skyway connection begins2005, June 9-10. The major vertical sign masts were installed. The top of the taller one rises higher than any other structure in the Downtown East neighborhood.2005, Nov 18. The first test of the LED masts took place 2006, Feb 24, The third LED mast is installed 2006, June 25. The Guthrie Community Celebration and public grand The first production was the World Premiere of Simon Levy’s adaptation of the Great Gatsby

s t r u C t u r e :

The building is composed of three main structural systems:

1) site-cast concrete of the thrust stage system 2) steel cantilever bridge 3) steel framed proscenium system

The break between the three systems becomes a lining that allows for a fourth (4) experiential quality.

A building scale integration moment occurs between the structural system and acoustic system. The concrete shear walls are a primary structure element that also act as an acoustic barrier between the theaters and surrounding spaces.

Additionally, the concrete shaft of the freight elevator acts as a stabilizing core for the black box theater. Since this core is in the southwest corner, cross-bracing is required at the north wall to account for lateral loads.

1)2)3)

1)2)3)

Cantelever force

distribution I N T E G R AT I O N M O M E N T !

4)

C i r C u l At i o n :

The circulation is split into two main categories, the visitors and the staff.

The visitor circulation is convoluted and acts to control the experiential and perceptual aspects of the visitor, while the staff and production circulation is designed as a machine built for effi ciency and function.

The main experiential circulation move, the 4-story escalator, is situated between the bridge structure and the theater structures, inhabiting the subsequent fourth system. Further, the mechanical systems tend to follow the elevator cores.

CoDe:

Since the visitor pathway can be confusing, egress

becomes very important in the event of a disaster. Thus,

there is plenty of vertical circulation and fi re-escape stairs.

Visitor circulation (blue)

versus staff circulation (red)

Fragmented experiential

moments through public

circulation

NS section of circulation.

Note the bridge ramps are

non-ADA

maze-like circulation of staff

spaces

escalator circulation

integrated

into structural

fragmentation

I N T E G R AT I O N M O M E N T !

e n v e l o p e :

STAINLESS STEEL PANEL WITH APPLIED GRAPPHICS

SELF-ADHERED FLEXIBLE MEMBRANE FLASHING

PRIMARY STRUCTURE

EXTERIOR-GRADE SHEATHING. ALL JOINTS SEALED WITH SELF-ADHESIVE COMPATIBLE MEMBRANE PRODUCT

WALL DRAINAGE PLANE PRODUCT

CORROSION-RESISTANT METAL FLASHING

MOISTURE-TOLERANT INSULATION

SEALANT JOINT

The envelope is a steel panel system that allows for

modular creation, installation, and adjustments.

This becomes important for the curved structure

of the thrust theater and maintenance of the

etched graphics along the facade.

This modular character allows for integration of the

fresh air intake and exhaust vents with the facade. The

vents visually fi t the design of the facade and allow for

integration with the AHU in the building

Facade treatments act to conceal prominent structural elements

Applied graphics and curving

facade application

AHU exhaust vents integrated

into the facade

I N T E G R AT I O N M O M E N T !

cooling tower

AHU fresh-air intake

m e C h A n i C A l s Y s t e m s :

AHU-1 STUDIO THEATER

AHU-2 LOBBY/EDUCATION

AHU-3 PROSCENIUM STAGE

AHU-4 PROSCENIUM THEATER

AHU-5 THRUST THEATER AND STAGE

AHU-6 PROPS AND COSTUMES

AHU-7 THRUST BACK OF HOUSE

AHU-8 1ST AND 2ND FLOOR LOBBIES

AHU-9 REHEARSAL HALLS

AHU-10 THRUST LOBBIES AND OFFICES

AHU-11 LOBBIES 4 AND 5

There are 11 AHU which service 11 different systems within the building. Each theater, the bridge, the lobby, and the production facilites have their own systems.

The theaters have additional strategies to bring air into the space quietly. The thrust stages utilizes under fl oor air plenum to diffuse the velocity of the incoming conditioned air. The vent system is diffused and integrated within the location and spacing of the theater seating. The proscenium theater and the black box theater place the incoming air as high as possible and utilize a large amount of vents to diffuse the air across the space.

The stages are vented by forcing fresh air on one side, creating pressure to push the exhaust air out the other, thus eliminating the need for vents on the stages.

This is a moment where Jean Nouvel

designed for the exterior of the

building to mimic the theater seating,

but in reality, this is a faux treatment

occupied by mechanical and functional

systems.

There are multiple treatments of

terminal venting systems designed for

a variety of users within the spaces.

These spaces include theaters, lobbies,

and rehearsal and production facilities.

p l u m b i n g : l i g h t i n g :

The plumbing system is a bit of a mystery. The plans show

a vertical plenum behind the thrust stage, but nothing

shows on the proscenium/black box side or the bridge.

We hypothesize that the plumbing plenum is located in

the mechanical room on the east side of the building. In

contrast to the construction documentation, there exists a

vertical plumbing stack on the third floor of the constructed

building.

The dimmer rooms are stacked vertically and are positioned next to the elevator cores, egress stairs, and mechanical rooms. This becomes a partially zoned area in which electrical, circulation, and mechanical are integrated. The dimmer rooms near the thrust stage service the bridge spaces that include staff space and visitor lobbies. The vault generator, transformer generators, and main electrical room are positioned on the southeast corner of the basement and feed all of the electricity into the building.

There are three different lighting systems:

1) lobby space/public lighting

2) staff lighting

3) theater/production lighting.

I N T E G R AT I O N M O M E N T !

m o D e l p h o t o s : The Guthrie Theater is an example of the architect designing the building for experience and the engineer solving the structural, mechanical, and electrical systems to fi t the design. Even though the building is technologically advanced and highly engineered, the systems are much less integrated than other buildings of this time.

Overall, the Guthrie partially utilizes zoning strategies to integrate several independent design variables into the architectural design of the building. This manifests itself mainly in the mechanical and electrical spaces tend to be stacked vertically. However, the bathrooms, plumbing, and AHU spaces are placed or designed as needed per Jean Nouvel’s experiential design.