Noted engineer to design acoustics for M-A's new theater Noted engineer to design acoustics for M-A's new theater (February 01, 2006)

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

An acoustics engineer known for his work on performing arts centers throughout the United States will be the lead acoustic designer for the new 500-seat theater scheduled to open in 2008 on the Menlo-Atherton High School campus.

Paul Scarbrough, head of Connecticut-based Akustiks LLC, was the principal designer and project manager for a $36 million renovation of the Cleveland Orchestra's Severance Hall and led the project to renovate of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

In coming to M-A, Mr. Scarbrough will join architects Hodgetts + Fung, the Los Angeles-based firm that won a juried design competition put on by M-A in June 2005.

One important focus of the design competition was staying within the $18.5 million budget set by the Sequoia Union High School District. Primary funding for the 24,000-square-foot theater will come from the sale of construction bonds voters approved in November 2004.

Assistant Superintendent Ed LaVigne of the Sequoia district said the district expects a $2.6 million contribution from the city of Menlo Park, which lost its community theater in 2001 when structural damage forced the closure and later demolition of the Burgess Theater.

Carol Augustine, Menlo Park's finance director, said the city and the Sequoia district have a memorandum of understanding signed by "a previous City Council ... potentially committing the city to pay up to $2.6 million" toward a shared use of the theater.
Old partners

This won't be the first time Mr. Scarbrough has worked with Hodgetts + Fung. They collaborated in redoing the Hollywood Bowl and on an amphitheater for the Minnesota Orchestra, he said in an e-mail message.

Why take on the M-A theater? Mr. Scarbrough said Craig Hodgetts and Ming Fung approached him while preparing their entry for the M-A competition.

"The Menlo-Atherton project seemed to be an ideal opportunity for us to work together again," he said. "I very much enjoy their creative approach to architecture and find them to be wonderful collaborators on these types of projects."

School theaters interest him, he added, because their range of uses -- band concerts, chamber music, dramas, lectures -- requires a flexible design that is both cost effective and unintimidating to staff and students.

"When done well, such facilities not only provide a place for exciting performances, they also become teaching tools in and of themselves," he said.

Asked how the Sequoia district managed to hire an acoustics engineer with a national reputation, Mr. LaVigne said that Hodgetts + Fung were the key. "They know the national names," he said. "Their reputation brought Paul Scarbrough to our project."

Mr. LaVigne said he could not recall what Mr. Scarbrough is charging, but noted: "He was a good buy. Even though he is a nationally known acoustics engineer, he was not exorbitant."

Mr. Scarbrough will lead the design of the building's acoustical features while a colleague will craft the sound and communication systems, he said. The work, estimated to take about a year, will be done at M-A, at the architects' studio in Los Angeles, and at Akustiks headquarters in Connecticut.

With sophisticated electronic amplification systems, why are acoustics even important?

"In a well-designed room, the acoustics make you feel immersed in the sound of the performance and create a visceral connection between the listener and the performer," said Mr. Scarbrough.

"Acoustics also help the performer feel connected to (the) audience. Great acoustics and the human interaction that they help to foster is one of the reasons we find live performances so much more exciting and interesting than watching the same event on a television at home."

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