When a Train Rumbles Past This Recording Studio Nobody Hears It
New York City-based Fiedler Marciano Architecture designs a recording facility surrounded by freight trains and cars that fuels the ongoing cultural development of downtown Syracuse.
New York, NY, July 27, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Building a noise-free recording studio surrounded by an urban cacophony of freight trains and high speed traffic is a bit like herding cats; both seem preposterous and next to impossible.
Yet the new home for SubCat Studios, an established independent recording facility in upstate New York, surmounts the challenges of its chaotic location just forty feet from an active railway. It also acts as an artistic catalyst for the community; SubCat is the anchor tenant of 219 West, a cultural redevelopment project in downtown Syracuse. Fiedler Marciano Architecture (FMA) renovated the 19,200-sq.-ft. building and, with SubCat Studios as the programmatic spark, they raised its hip factor and created a synergistic arts complex that attracts creative industry tenants.
When the existing three-story masonry building at 219 West came on the market, Scott Allyn, a benefactor of the neighboring Redhouse Arts Center and associate of SubCat Studios’ owner, Ron Keck, had an inspired vision. He redeveloped the property as a grass roots center for the arts that would resuscitate the struggling theater, and create a new arts center for the local community. The complex, which opened in early July, hits a high note with top musicians in the industry and jives with the city’s burgeoning arts scene.
“The desire to contribute to the cultural environment of the city drove the decision to place the studios in such an incongruous location,” said Mark Fiedler, FMA partner. “The project was ever evolving, and in addition to the site-related acoustical challenges, there was a desire for transparency. We inserted large ground-floor windows to create a visual connection between the community and the activities within the studio, and overcame the additional acoustical hurdles that this posed.”
Sound of silence. FMA worked in closed collaboration with Lally Acoustical Consulting to design studios that ensure the total silence required for recording, even as freight trains or tractor trailers rumble past. The architects removed the existing wood floor framing and replaced it with a long-span concrete deck. The deck supports a series of secondary “floating” slabs that in turn support isolated wall and ceiling construction. This “room-within-a-room” approach prevents sound and vibration transmission from both outside sources and the adjacent rooms.
Street stage. FMA burst open the base of the building along South West Street to showcase SubCat Studios. FMA positioned the control rooms, which have a higher tolerance for noise compared to recording spaces, directly behind new multi-colored storefronts made up of triple-layered glass with air spaces that provide a sound barrier. The vertically-striated interior walls of the studios (akin to a strip of DNA) seamlessly incorporate custom panels that provide absorption, diffusion and reflection. This design motif is repeated in the storefront windows, which draw people’s attention to live recording sessions taking place inside the building.
Synergistic program. 219 West now serves as a cultural destination. The remainder of the first floor houses a lobby, lounge, and café that are shared with the adjacent theater. Music instruction, rehearsal areas, a dance studio and office spaces for related industries are situated on the second floor. Three residential suites on the top floor provide accommodations for visiting troupes and artists in residence.
Community connections. The project transforms a once desolate site into a vital destination that links the Armory Square District with new development on the city’s Near Westside, which is fast becoming a downtown arts community.
Designed for downtown. On the side of the building that faces downtown, FMA added a glazed lobby entrance to draw pedestrian interest; they also re-clad the stair tower in perforated metal panels that reference the area’s industrial past. The composition of the entry lobby and tower gives the building a strong public presence within the urban streetscape and entices visitors from the neighboring Armory Square District.
“Mark and I are Syracuse University alumni and we know the importance of cultural and community development in the downtown area,” said Martin Marciano, FMA partner. “The design for this ambitious project draws on our personal connection with Syracuse, as well as our awareness of the urban issues that post-industrial cities are facing.”
Fact and Image Sheet available upon request.
About Fiedler Marciano Architecture
Fiedler Marciano Architecture is a New York City-based architectural design firm established in 2006 by partners Mark Fiedler and Martin Marciano. The firm portfolio includes a variety of institutional, commercial and residential work, with special emphasis on cultural projects, including The Couri Visitor Center and Museum (Syracuse University), The Ray and Jon Kroc Corps Community Center of Northern New York (Massena, NY) and the College of Visual and Performing Arts Student Center (Syracuse University). Fiedler Marciano Architecture is currently working with the Guggenheim Museum and Tokyo-based architects Atelier Bow-Wow, as Architects of Record for the New York City installation of the BMW/Guggenheim Lab – a temporary installation that serves as a travelling research laboratory exploring contemporary urban issues. The lab structure will be erected in three different cities over the course of two years and opens in New York on August 3.
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Yet the new home for SubCat Studios, an established independent recording facility in upstate New York, surmounts the challenges of its chaotic location just forty feet from an active railway. It also acts as an artistic catalyst for the community; SubCat is the anchor tenant of 219 West, a cultural redevelopment project in downtown Syracuse. Fiedler Marciano Architecture (FMA) renovated the 19,200-sq.-ft. building and, with SubCat Studios as the programmatic spark, they raised its hip factor and created a synergistic arts complex that attracts creative industry tenants.
When the existing three-story masonry building at 219 West came on the market, Scott Allyn, a benefactor of the neighboring Redhouse Arts Center and associate of SubCat Studios’ owner, Ron Keck, had an inspired vision. He redeveloped the property as a grass roots center for the arts that would resuscitate the struggling theater, and create a new arts center for the local community. The complex, which opened in early July, hits a high note with top musicians in the industry and jives with the city’s burgeoning arts scene.
“The desire to contribute to the cultural environment of the city drove the decision to place the studios in such an incongruous location,” said Mark Fiedler, FMA partner. “The project was ever evolving, and in addition to the site-related acoustical challenges, there was a desire for transparency. We inserted large ground-floor windows to create a visual connection between the community and the activities within the studio, and overcame the additional acoustical hurdles that this posed.”
Sound of silence. FMA worked in closed collaboration with Lally Acoustical Consulting to design studios that ensure the total silence required for recording, even as freight trains or tractor trailers rumble past. The architects removed the existing wood floor framing and replaced it with a long-span concrete deck. The deck supports a series of secondary “floating” slabs that in turn support isolated wall and ceiling construction. This “room-within-a-room” approach prevents sound and vibration transmission from both outside sources and the adjacent rooms.
Street stage. FMA burst open the base of the building along South West Street to showcase SubCat Studios. FMA positioned the control rooms, which have a higher tolerance for noise compared to recording spaces, directly behind new multi-colored storefronts made up of triple-layered glass with air spaces that provide a sound barrier. The vertically-striated interior walls of the studios (akin to a strip of DNA) seamlessly incorporate custom panels that provide absorption, diffusion and reflection. This design motif is repeated in the storefront windows, which draw people’s attention to live recording sessions taking place inside the building.
Synergistic program. 219 West now serves as a cultural destination. The remainder of the first floor houses a lobby, lounge, and café that are shared with the adjacent theater. Music instruction, rehearsal areas, a dance studio and office spaces for related industries are situated on the second floor. Three residential suites on the top floor provide accommodations for visiting troupes and artists in residence.
Community connections. The project transforms a once desolate site into a vital destination that links the Armory Square District with new development on the city’s Near Westside, which is fast becoming a downtown arts community.
Designed for downtown. On the side of the building that faces downtown, FMA added a glazed lobby entrance to draw pedestrian interest; they also re-clad the stair tower in perforated metal panels that reference the area’s industrial past. The composition of the entry lobby and tower gives the building a strong public presence within the urban streetscape and entices visitors from the neighboring Armory Square District.
“Mark and I are Syracuse University alumni and we know the importance of cultural and community development in the downtown area,” said Martin Marciano, FMA partner. “The design for this ambitious project draws on our personal connection with Syracuse, as well as our awareness of the urban issues that post-industrial cities are facing.”
Fact and Image Sheet available upon request.
About Fiedler Marciano Architecture
Fiedler Marciano Architecture is a New York City-based architectural design firm established in 2006 by partners Mark Fiedler and Martin Marciano. The firm portfolio includes a variety of institutional, commercial and residential work, with special emphasis on cultural projects, including The Couri Visitor Center and Museum (Syracuse University), The Ray and Jon Kroc Corps Community Center of Northern New York (Massena, NY) and the College of Visual and Performing Arts Student Center (Syracuse University). Fiedler Marciano Architecture is currently working with the Guggenheim Museum and Tokyo-based architects Atelier Bow-Wow, as Architects of Record for the New York City installation of the BMW/Guggenheim Lab – a temporary installation that serves as a travelling research laboratory exploring contemporary urban issues. The lab structure will be erected in three different cities over the course of two years and opens in New York on August 3.
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Contact
Fiedler Marciano Architecture
Krysta Venturella
646.742.1700
www.fiedlermarciano.com/
Krysta Venturella
646.742.1700
www.fiedlermarciano.com/
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