Project
New Construction
Location
Corvallis, OR
Architects
Holst Architects, H3 Architects
Acoustician
Jaffe Holden
Completion
April 2024
Description
“The arts invite us to see, to think, to listen, to feel, and to reflect. I can’t imagine a more urgent path for humans and for humanity.”
— Patricia Valian Reser
The Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts (PRAx) is a 49,000 square-foot performing and visual arts destination on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis. There are four indoor venues and two outdoor venues that host concerts, exhibitions and performances by international touring artists and by OSU student ensembles. The facility opened on April 6, 2024
The ceiling of the 490-seat Lynne Hallstrom Detrick Concert Hall rises on the south side of the building, with a specially designed concrete wall to block out the sound of trains running across the street.
Wenger provided custom Transform™ Motorized Acoustical Banners in the concert hall as a key element of the venue’s unique acoustic qualities. The banners will allow the hall to be acoustically tuned to adjust the way sound reverberates in the room, to best showcase events from lectures to full symphony concerts. The banners are controlled using J.R. Clancy motion control system, with a mobile console that makes maneuvering the banners and other rigged elements safer and easier by allowing the operator to have a line-of-sight from the stage.
The Edward J. Ray Theater, the center’s black box theater, will serve as a classroom and a performance space for more intimate shows, art installations and experimental practices. Wenger’s StageTek® Seated Risers provide foundation for the audience seating in the black box, and Wenger’s Portable Audience Chairs complete the space. The flexibility of the portable seating and StageTek risers allow the space to be transformed from a theatre to an art gallery and back again when required.