The Palladium, The Center for the Performing Arts, Carmel, Indiana, USA
The Palladium in Carmel, Indiana, USA, is part of The Center for the Performing Arts, which also features the 500-seat Booth Tarkington Theater and the 200-seat Studio theater. The concert hall opening gala took place on January 29, 2011.
The Palladium, a 1600-seat concert hall, is the new home of the Carmel Symphony Orchestra and is used for performances of all forms of classical music. It also accommodates various other forms of acoustic and amplified concert performances such as jazz, symphonic pops concerts, and lightly amplified pop and world music concerts, as well as amplified speech events.
The Palladium is an intimate concert hall with high ceilings, curved box seats and a dome at top center. The symmetrical style of “La Rotonda,” a four-fronted limestone structure at Vicenza, Italy, built in 1566 by the famous Renaissance architect Palladio, was an inspiration for the design. Over the concert platform hangs the first large-scale, all-glass acoustic canopy to be used in a concert hall. The tempered glass panels attached to steel space frame trusses are movable to adjust the acoustical environment to suit different types of performance. Other adjustable features include a stage extension (with chair wagons), a chorus wagon, and a system of adjustable acoustic curtains and cloth.
The Palladium is the home of Michael Feinstein’s Great American Songbook Collection. The collection houses thousands of vinyl records available for research. Some items will be displayed for the public, including an autographed pair of Fred Astaire’s dancing shoes, original sheet music and a video history of Tin Pan Alley and other moments of the era.
Artec provided Design and Planning services covering Pre-Design Phase services, Auditorium Design, Facility Planning, Specialized Performance Equipment Systems Design and comprehensive Acoustics Consulting Services (including Background Noise and Vibration Control) for The Center for the Performing Arts. The architect is David M. Schwarz Architects of Washington, D.C.
