The new $8-million, 33,000-sq-ft Performing Arts Center at Kent Denver School includes a 500-seat auditorium theater, a workshop theater, an exterior amphitheater, rehearsal studios, a ballet room and four art classrooms.

A major restriction on the project was a limited building height above grade. This issue presented an unusual challenge to the design of a high-performance auditorium theater with a 120-ft roof span. The use of a steel “carriage” or “queen-post” truss structure integrated the theater roof with the rigging, catwalks, fly tower and mechanical systems, thus eliminating the need for a secondary support structure.

The depth required for the catwalk was integrated into the geometry of the truss to create a more efficient, long-span system. The truss uses two vertical posts to trick the top roof member into shorter flexural spans. The base of these posts are tied to the end supports of the truss, using lighter tension members. This approach greatly reduced the overall height of the building while also reducing the total steel tonnage for the roof and catwalk system.

The building’s overall complex-plan geometry features numerous cantilevers and exposed structural elements. The ballet room, the most prominent cantilevered form, is hung from the roof steel to minimize the structural floor depth and maximize the restricted headroom space in the loading dock below. This element is further complicated by strict vibration criteria resulting from the rhythmic nature of its use.

The exposed structural steel and the acoustic epic deck—used in the workshop theater, the main theater’s lobby and the building’s interior “street” spaces—are aesthetically pleasing because of carefully crafted, quality details. The structure becomes the architecture, thereby eliminating the need for any ceiling finishes and reducing construction costs.

Kent Denver School
Performing Arts Center

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