AlumniReview32014_0

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sTory
Adream realized
Film major Charlotte Orzel, Artsci’15, remembers
getting her first look at the Isabel Bader
Centre for the Performing Arts – also known
as the Isabel – back in April. “The first time I
walked in, it was pretty spectacular!” she says.
“It’s so open, there is so much light, and the
performance hall is amazing.”
She has good reason to be enthusiastic. When
the Isabel formally opens in September, Ms. Orzel
and her classmates will be among the first to call
the 80,000 square foot facility home. The building
was designed by world-renowned architectural
firm Snøhetta (past projects include the Oslo
Opera House and the National September 11
Memorial Museum Pavilion in New York) in
collaboration with Ottawa’s n45 architects. Lead
architect Craig Dykers wanted the building to
establish a strong connection between the landscape
and the character of the shore.
The Isabel houses the Department of Film and
Media, and will provide learning and working
spaces, as well as exhibition and performance
spaces, for the School of Music, the Department
of Drama and the Bachelor of Fine Art program.
The building also boasts a flexible 100-seat studio
theatre, a film screening room and a multipurpose
rehearsal hall.
But it is the Isabel’s acoustically superior concert
hall, a warm, wood-lined space with seating
for 566 that is making Kingston the envy of music
lovers across the country. Virtually a building
within a building, the intimate hall is surrounded
by two-foot thick concrete walls that muffle noise.
Its curved wooden walls cut echo and improve the
acoustics, while retractable, motorized acoustic
drapes permit even more customizable sound.
The acoustics, designed by New York-based Arup,
were conceived using their Virtual SoundLab
technology, which allows the environment of a
space to be listened to before it is even built.
“This building really is a game-changer for
Queen’s and for Kingston,” says the Isabel’s direc-
16 Issue 3, 2014 | alumnireview.queensu.ca