Bing Concert Hall Tour at Stanford University

Bing!

On June 11 almost two dozen people attended a tour of the Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University. The tour was organized by ACEC California. The $112 million project, which opened in January, is this year's recipient of the ACEC California Golden State Award.  Principal and project engineer Ray Pugliesi and President and CEO Stacy Bartoletti of San Francisco-based Degenkolb, the ACEC member firm which designed the Bing project, were on hand to discuss the project's engineering challenges. The tour was conducted by Matt Rodriguez, director of production and operations with Stanford Live.  

Among the ACEC member firms attending were SANDIS, who also provided surveying services for the Bing project, Biggs Cardosa Associates, DES Architects and Engineers, Hatch Mott MacDonald, Salas O'Brien, ENGEO, Rinne & Peterson, URS, Mark Thomas & Company, Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, and The Covello Group. Assemblyman Rich Gordon (D- Menlo Park) was represented by senior field representative Anna Ko.
In the words of tour director Matt Rodriguez, "The Bing is really a unique building and Stanford had the foresight to put together a great team to design and build it." The 842-seat symphony hall is visually and structurally impressive and was designed to provide superior acoustics for symphonic music. With a reverberation rate of 2.6 seconds, Bing is especially attuned for stringed instruments, but the hall has also hosted dance recitals, Broadway reviews and rock shows. Among the artists appearing this year at the Bing are singers Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin. No audience member is more than 75 feet from the stage and benefactors and Stanford alums Dr. Peter Bing and his wife, Helen, insisted on making the viewing experience as comfortable and "organic" as possible. As a result, the hall has seats that are up to six inches wider than standard theater seating and some have more than a foot of extra leg room.

According to Ray Pugliesi, the entire project took more than six years from concept and design to completion of construction. Matt Rodriguez says that the team, combined with a BIM process that saw the entire building engineered and designed on computer before construction began, kept the project on time and on budget. The Bing is an outstanding example of complex engineering and the solutions ACEC members can bring to large scale projects. That makes it a worthy winner of this year's Golden State Award.

Congratulations, Degenkolb!