The state-of-the-art, 842-seat vineyard style Bing Concert Hall opened in January 2013. It exemplifies the seamless integration of architecture, acoustics and technology with the goal of transforming the practice, study and experience of the performing arts at Stanford. This 56' 1" tall building has a unique elliptical shaped concert hall that is built partially above grade and part below.
The Bing’s hall is small, but world-class sound quality is achieved thanks to the 47-foot high ceiling. The concert hall, which occupies an oval drum that is encircled by an irregularly-shaped lobby, consists of a gravity steel frame supporting long span roof trusses. California Drywall installed 56-foot long metal stud framing that support the exterior walls of the giant drum and also served as the interior wall framing. Unique challenges to installing these studs were the building’s elliptical shape and the walls, which were tilted inward at a uniform 10 degrees around the hall’s elliptical perimeter.
With the framing in place, California Drywall installed corrugated metal sheathing on the exterior face of the metal studs and inserted 3-inch screws a half-inch deep every 4 feet on the sheathing. After rebar was installed over the sheathing, California Drywall applied a stucco finish over the shotcrete on the drum and on the exterior of the remainder of the building. On the exterior California Drywall installed more than 19,000 linear feet of reveals, many of them curved. Due to the compound geometry of the drum, California Drywall’s metal lathers needed all their mechanical skills to lay-out and frame Bing. All of the horizontal reveals were bent and cut on-site in order to precisely follow the curve of the building. Also, because the manufacturer’s factory fabricated intersections would not work due to the complicated geometry, California Drywall’s lathing foreman went to a machine shop and created a jig that could create customized intersections that were installed at the intersections of the exterior reveals. Once complete, 68,000 square feet of traditional stucco finish was applied to the exterior of the building to visually match other buildings throughout the Campus.
These same 56-foot studs also functioned as the final interior wall framing. Due to the acoustical requirements, California Drywall installed two layers of sound insulation the full height of each cavity at the perimeter (in addition to the shotcrete) in order to isolate the concert hall from noise and vibration. Because of the inward slope of the drum within the main auditorium, each piece of gypsum that California Drywall installed at the exterior wall had to be cut into a trapezoid shape for proper installation. This was done in addition to bending each piece to follow the curve of the ellipse.
Much more was involved in the completion of this award-winning project; we could write a book on it. Of course Building Information Modeling was involved in the success of this project, but the talent, teamwork and skills of the California Drywall team were the secret ingredient needed to pull it all off.
Visit www.caldrywall.com to learn more about California Drywall.
Contractor
California Drywall Co.
Manufacturers
Ames Taping Tools
BASWA Acoustic North America, LLC
California Expanded Metal Products (CEMCO)
Fry Reglet Corporation
Georgia-Pacific Gypsum
Hilti, Inc.
Isolatek International
LaHabra Stucco; Pro-Twist/PrimeSource Building Products, Inc.
Stuc-O-Flex International, Inc.
USG
Suppliers
CalPly (L&W Supply), Isolatek International and Westside Building Material
