While providing spacious accommodations for audiences and performers, Marion Oliver McCaw Hall proved to be a restricted work area for Skanska and their subcontractors. Image Courtesy of Skanska

The effort to create a world class facility where a 1920's performance hall and hockey rink once stood wrapped in early June with a flurry of last-minute activity to ready the new venue for its opening ceremonies on June 28. The Mercer Arena had been transformed from a hockey rink into the 60,000-sq-ft. Mercer Arts Arena, and the new Marion Oliver McCaw Hall stood proudly in the place once occupied by the Seattle Opera Hall.

Throughout the $125 million construction effort that began in 2001 major tenants - Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Opera - performed on schedule. The bustling Seattle Center continued to host dozens of events on its adjoining 62-acre campus that includes the Experience Music Project.

To accomplish this feat, general contractor/construction manager Skanska (Seattle) and the Seattle Center undertook a $7 million renovation to convert the Mercer Arena into a temporary venue for the opera and ballet. This effort involved removing the arena's lower seating and digging 5-ft. below grade to create an orchestra pit, adding a stage, a new seating bowl and replacing old electric and heating systems.

With the task of providing a temporary performance venue complete, Skanska and its team turned their attention to the major task, creating a world-class performance hall on the site formerly occupied by a facility that could no longer serve the needs of its community.

About 75 percent of the original structure was rebuilt after completely gutting its interior. Other improvement include a seismic upgrade; adding view boxes with improved sight lines in the auditorium, new heating and new electrical systems, a new lobby boasting a spectacular curtain wall, and a new landscaped promenade that opens the Seattle Center campus up to Mercer Street and the International Fountain.

Skanska was on board early on in the process, working closely with the design team 18 months before renovation work on the Mercer Arena started in 2001. Still, the project's schedule needed tweaking in order to delivered on time, on schedule and on budget.


Construction and Theater Artistry

The initial schedule called for work to start on the main opera hall in January 2002 - after the ballet troupe's popular holiday production of the "Nutcracker" had ended. However, Skanska identified a number of jobs that could be completed in the basement of the opera house earlier on in the process. The contractor persuaded the owner to approve an "early works" package that essentially gave the construction team early entry into the facility and a 4-month head start on the project.

Early work included installing of underground utilities, investigation of existing site conditions, adding support columns to carry the new loads, adding steel beams under the auditorium, and shoring under the future promenade to support demolition contractor Nuprecon's (Snoqualmie, Wash.) heavy machinery. This crucial work was accomplished between performances while the opera and ballet troupes were still occupying the hall.

Although the "early work" comprised just five percent of the total job, it made a big impact in the way the crews proceeded. Combining work in the arena with the early work in the opera hall was approved by the owner only after Seattle Center representatives were convinced that the job's schedule required it, and that the hall's users would not be affected.

Initial concerns were coordinating potentially disruptive construction work around opera and ballet performances; as well as the fact that the early work would require around $6 million in funds earlier than the original schedule had anticipated. Those fears were quelled when Skanska presented a detailed work schedule and the funds were made available for use earlier. "Seattle Center's willingness to work out an early access plan is a major reason we were able to be on time an on budget with the project," says Scott Lee, Skanska Washington Division vice president.

New Additions

MOM Hall's upgrades will benefit performers as well as its audience. Performers will enjoy a new 4,000-sq.-ft. rehearsal space, six vocal coaching rooms with acoustical isolation, a 750-sq.-ft. reception room, a 1,000-sq.ft. wardrobe room, a 1,200-sq.-ft. make-up and wig room, a 900-sq.-ft. musician's lounge and a world-class staging facility.

The public accommodations feature twice the number of women's restrooms and family restrooms throughout the building. A 750-sq.-ft. second balcony lobby offers expansive views of the Seattle Center grounds. A new public café on the south side of the lobby opens onto outdoor seating facing the Seattle Center.

The auditorium sides have been brought in slightly, narrowing the space and making for a more cozy setting for the audience. Existing balconies were replaced with side boxes providing improved sight lines, similar to the Seattle Symphony's Benaroya Hall. Rear balcony extensions compensate for seats removed at stage level. Elevated seating sections along each side of the orchestra level sweep down to the stage from the first balcony so that many audience members will be seated eye-level with the stage.

The goal of LMN Architects (Seattle) was to create a sense of intimacy between the audience and the performers; a key component of a world-class venue.

A taller fly loft - the space above the stage used for equipment that raises and lowers sets - adds more clearance area and allow stage hands to more easily handle large sets. A new loading dock, with a 40-ft. by 40-ft. entry at stage level, allows the ballet and opera to use props and stage displays borrowed from other troupes around the country - something the groups had been unable to do before. The old venue's 12-ft. by 16-ft. stage door and insufficient loading dock meant some sets had to be turned away because they wouldn't fit through the doors.

Few visitors will notice the complete seismic upgrade, with additional steel framing and concrete shear walls located discreetly throughout the building.

All new lighting and HVAC systems installed by CDi Engineers (Lynnwood, Wash.) features a unique displacement ventilation system, which introduces cool air into the auditorium at seat level. The innovative design - which is used frequently in Europe but only recently at performance halls in the United States - is both energy and cost efficient.

Electrical engineering firm Sparling's (Seattle) designs consist of a completely new electrical system throughout the hall. Project highlights include additional power connections throughout the auditorium and lobby to support activities such as Bumbershoot performances. Previously, Seattle Center crews had to rig extension cords and perform considerable prep work to be able to accommodate these one-time acts. Other Sparling designs include a system that supports television screens in the lobby, lecture hall and donor rooms, so latecomers can view the performance while they wait to enter the hall during an intermission.

Clearly Spectacular

Possibly the most dramatic part of MOM Hall is its new grand entry and courtyard area. A serpentine-shaped, ultra-clear glass curtainwall - measuring 60 ft. tall and more than 200 ft. long - will enclose the lobby.

Large metal fabric "scrims" will attach to the glass curtainwall, onto which colored light will be projected.

The design of the curtainwall was one of several challenges faced by Seattle structural engineer Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire. The design went through much iteration as SWMB and LMN worked together to ensure the glass wall was both visually striking and structurally sound.

Engineers studied wind load, wall tension and the rigidity of the supporting roof, among many other issues. This careful attention to detail helped along with the ability to fabricate panels in-shop helped Walters and Wolf complete installation in just five weeks.

The landscaped courtyard designed by Seattle's Gustafson Partners, opens up the space between Mercer Street and the Seattle Center, providing a welcoming connection for the public that had never existed before. The area includes an expansive water feature and landscaped planters, and will also incorporate the existing tall trees bordering the Seattle Center.

The hall's lobby has undergone a dramatic transformation. The old lobby consisted of a series of separate, single-story spaces tucked in between an old seating bowl that that had been encapsulated years ago. Demolition crews completely removed the seating bowl and existing lobby spaces, resulting in an open lobby space through all primary floor levels.

Community Support

The renovation is a public/private partnership merging public support of $55 million with private gifts of $70 million. The bulk of the private donations - $20 million - came from brothers Bruce, Craig, John and Keith McCaw in honor of their mother, Marion Oliver McCaw Garrison, a long-time supporter of the arts in the Northwest and an opera enthusiast. The fundraising campaign continued through June 2003.

Support for MOM Hall has extended beyond the donor community. The hall's users and staff; the design community; and the local Queen Anne area neighbors have all been supportive of the project.

Following June 28 opening celebration, the Seattle Opera moves in and readies the hall for its first performance August 12. Next, the Pacific Northwest Ballet will begin preparations for its 2003-2004 season. Bravo.