Hammers and Drills Give Way to Violins and Voices as Mortenson Completes Wheaton College’s First Phase of the New Performing Arts Center

The sounds of violins and voices replaced hammers and drills on October 19 when classes began at Wheaton College’s new Armerding Center for Music and the Arts. Mortenson Construction completed the year-long, $18 million transformation of the former science building in early October, with the college moving in over fall break to the new home for the school’s Conservatory of Music.

In renovating the four floors of the gutted 52,000 square-foot structure, Mortenson concluded the first phase of Wheaton’s College’s investment in centralizing its music and performing arts program in state-of-the-art educational, research, and performance facilities. The new center includes a two-story, 108-seat recital hall with green room, recording studio, digital keyboard lab, chamber rehearsal and performance spaces, classrooms, practice rooms, and faculty and administrative offices. The college is raising money for the second phase, which calls for Mortenson to demolish the attached Breyer Hall building and construct a new 648-seat concert hall.

“The requirements for constructing a performing arts space go far beyond the average building, especially the need to minimize sound transfer between rooms and throughout the heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing systems as well as the aesthetics of the facility,” said Randy Norbeck, Wheaton College’s director of facility services and construction. “Mortenson’s expertise in acoustically-sensitive buildings and collaborative approach with FGM Architects, HGA, IMEG, Webster, McGrath & Ahlberg, Theatre Projects, and acoustician Threshold Acoustics has really paid off in a beautiful, world-class facility that came in on budget and on schedule.”

Mortenson deployed innovative equipment, materials, and techniques to achieve optimal acoustics throughout the facility. The builder executed box-in-a-box construction for each acoustically-sensitive room by building double ceilings and double walls. “Floating” floors in studios, rehearsal rooms, and practice rooms were constructed with two layers of plywood on neoprene pads and then finished flooring, creating an isolated flooring system that prevents sound transmission between rooms.

Instead of installing traditional rigid threaded rod hangers for ductwork, conduit, and pipes, Mortenson and its subcontractors used color-coded acoustic spring isolators to hang different-weight pipes for water-carrying and electrical systems. This isolation prevents sound transfer through ductwork, pipes, and conduit that passes from room to room to serve building systems such as lighting, ventilation, and power.