Jordan Miller

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MORE ABOUT: Wild Beast Music Pavilion – Valencia, California

MORE ABOUT:

Wild Beast Music Pavilion
California Institute of the Arts
24700 McBean Parkway
Valencia, Ca 91355

Built: 2007 – 2009

Design Architect: Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture

Structural Engineer: Thornton-Tomasetti / Bruce Gibbons
Mechanical Engineer: IBE / Alan Locke
Electrical Engineer: Lucci and Associates
Civil Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers / Brian LaFranchi

Acoustical: McKay Conant Brook, Inc. / David Conant

Project manager:
Bottega Management Group/ Leonard Madson Contractor(s)
HWI- Hinerfeld-Ward, Inc.
Tom Hinerfeld

The core section is expressed by a curved, three-dimensional arrangement, which, much like the soundboard for a stringed instrument, forms the principle assembly as well as an acoustically suitable space:

The building takes its name from a quote from an essay by contemporary composer Morton Feldman: “I am interested in how the wild beast lives in the jungle, not in the zoo.” This idea is captured in an early conceptual sketch:

According to architect Craig Hodgetts, “The engineering challenge was to convey a lyrical light-weight quality while using cement and steel [and] to determine the most efficient skeletal form.” The front wall can be rolled open to become the stage for a natural amphitheater:

The resonant interior is supplemented by a series of adaptable windowpanes set to create a clerestory, which can be used for “tuning:”

The open-air pavilion’s performance stage is situated in an isolated clearing which provides the courtyard space for casual seating:

The pavilion encloses 2,000 square feet of space including a classroom area. Aside from the interesting structural shape, other mechanical systems in the building include 60-foot-wide hangar doors. Additionally, there is an earth berm on two sides of the pavilion, requiring retention of up to seven feet of dirt: