The Onondaga Lakeview Amphitheater, near Syracuse, N.Y., seats 17,500. It is the first phase of a more extensive revitalization initiative that will benefit two nearby communities. a performing arts center extraordinaire REVIVES A ONCE-TOXIC LAKEFRONT SITE Early coordination, prefabrication, and judicious value engineering contributed to the accelerated completion of this Upstate New York design-build project. 26 MAY 2016 BUILDING DESIGN+CONSTRUCTION www.BDCnetwork.com
uilding team awards 2016 PLATINUM AWARD DAVID REVETTE/REVETTE STUDIO In September 2014, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that allowed for the construction of a new performing arts venue on Onondaga Lake, about fi ve miles northwest of Syracuse. One year later, on September 3, 2015, the Onondaga Lakeview Amphitheater, a gleaming, 74,000-sf outdoor event complex with a seating capacity of 17,500, held its fi rst performance, featuring country singer Miranda Lambert. This summer, the facility will host 25 concerts. The state-of-the-art amphitheater transformed an EPA-designated Superfund site into a destination that honors its surroundings and encourages a celebration of arts and culture. The facility was the fi rst step in a larger community revitalization initiative along the lake’s western shore, involving the village of Solvay and the town of Geddes. It’s the only vertical design-build contract that the Empire State has let go forward. With an accelerated construction period, early and constant <strong>Building</strong> Team collaboration and cooperation were essential for the on-time and on-budget completion of this project. That collaboration began even before the county awarded the contract, with the structural design team working at risk to deliver the steel mill order only eight days after the contract was signed. Project planning and early identifi cation of subcontractors were critical to the success of this project. BIM played a sem inal role in delivering accurate documents on time. The integration of structural analysis software (ETABS) and modeling software (Revit Structure) quantitatively reduced the drawing production time, while increasing the accuracy of the information. “The <strong>Building</strong> Team did a terrifi c job of melding with a stunning landscape, but not overpowering it,” said awards judge Beau Sanders, PE, SE, Associate and Project Manager with engineering fi rm Graef. “It’s apparent that they thought through all the details, from design to construction. It’s a beautiful project that is not just for concertgoers, but for the whole community to enjoy and appreciate.” BLENDING IN WITH THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE The site consists of capped industrial waste. Any attempt to remove it could have resulted in further environmental damage. To avoid this, the design minimized the need for signifi cant cut and fi ll. Gilbane <strong>Building</strong> Company, the general contractor, mandated 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training for anyone who would be working in potential areas of contamination. Gilbane also calibrated on a daily basis air-monitoring workstations that tracked contaminants on site or dissipating outside the work perimeter. Over 80,000 cubic yards of existing industrial waste were excavated and relocated to an onsite staging area. Another 130,000 cubic yards of infi ll were brought in. More than 230 steel piles were driven to support the amphitheater’s back-ofhouse and pavilion structures. To deliver power, water, and other services to the facility, Gilbane drilled horizontally underneath Interstate 690 without needing to close down any lanes. The building’s design and orientation take advantage of the natural land contours and lake views. So integrated is the building’s design with its environment that a bicycle path which circles the lake passes directly through the pavilion, underscoring the site’s function as a county park. The covered pavilion’s fascia, when backlit, correlates to the natural light at dusk on the lake waves. The pavilion façade has 198 steelsupported, 20-foot-high mesh panels that, when illuminated, play off the natural landscape beyond the amphitheater’s lawn. The fascia allows the transmission of highly amplifi ed sound from speakers at the stage and from behind the mesh to reach patrons with clarity. The rear lawn loudspeakers—12,500 of the amphitheater’s seating capacity is on an 80,000-sf lawn—are positioned directly behind the unobtrusive open mesh system, which is not only designed for sound integrity but also to provide a clean look at the rear skirt of the shed roof. Westlake Reed Leskosky’s in-house www.BDCuniversity.com BUILDING DESIGN+CONSTRUCTION MAY 2016 27
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