ARCHITECTURE OF EMPAC, THE TANGIBLE AND THE TANTALIZING. EXPERIMENTAL MEDIA AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

EMPAC is a building like no other. The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Center (EMPAC) is an extraordinary instrument for artists and researchers alike. With its concert hall, a theater and experimental black box studios, EMPAC bridges the ever-expanding potential of digital technology with the most refined details for acoustics, visual production and performing arts. EMPAC is designed, without compromise, for technology and the human experience, ranging from performances and new productions in time-based arts to the creation and navigation of large-scale immersive environments by researchers and engineers. On the campus of the oldest technological university in the U.S., the vision of EMPAC synthesizes a grand architectural gesture with the complex requirements of a true interdisciplinary enterprise for the 21st century. By using a series of essays, drawings, images and team insights, Professor Mark Mistur takes us through the collaborative process of a world-class team - led by Grimshaw Architects, Kirkegaard Associates, Fisher Dachs Associates, Buro Happold engineers and the Architect of Record Davis Brody Bond Aedas with the owners team of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute under its President Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson - from concept to completion.