For 80 years, Bloomington, Illinois' Scottish Rite Temple was the center of Bloomington-Normal's artistic and social life. Built originally to host "The American Passion Play," the Temple housed a 1320-seat theater with the largest stage west of New York and a ballroom that could seat 1000. The Bloomington Symphony and the Scottish Rite Players were among the largest attractions that also included Duke Ellington, Pablo Casals, Beverly Sills, and the Boston Pops Orchestra.

But by the late 1990's, the hall was showing its age. Though it had undergone some piecemeal improvements over the years, it had gone largely unimproved since 1921. "All of the major systems in the building were outdated," says the Executive Director of the restored venue, Bruce Marquis. "Electrical services to the building, plumbing, environmental services for audience comfort. Access to the building was limited for both artists and audience. There was no ticket office." And the list went on. "We had no loading dock, very limited storage capabilities, no freight elevator, no functional dressing rooms on the stage level, outdated rigging and lighting, a minimal sound system. We were very limited in what we could offer visiting performers." And the acoustics of the hall, originally designed for spoken voice, were inadequate for unamplified music.

Even with all that, says Marquis, "The building was structurally sound, and provided a solid foundation from which to build."

The transformation of the Temple to the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts (BCPA) began six years ago as part of a civic effort to revitalize the north side of Bloomington's downtown. The City formed the Bloomington Cultural District to assume ownership of the Temple.

When the BCPA (www.artsblooming.com) made its post-renovation debut with a performance by Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra on Sept. 16, it was with many of the original Temple architectural details preserved. Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge Inc. (Chicago) were the architects for the $15 million project that included: updated dressing rooms; stage storage, a loading dock, and freight elevator; expanded and remodeled restrooms; a lobby elevator; new seating; and a new ticket office and coat room. Completely new mechanical systems were installed—heating, air, electrical, and plumbing, and a fire sprinkler system. New theatrical systems include rigging and lighting systems with catwalks, also a new sound reinforcement system, and an acoustic enhancement system for non-amplified sound from JaffeHolden ( Norwalk, Ct and Santa Monica, Ca).

The Orchestra Shell
"A wide hall produces a low-volume acoustic," says JaffeHolden acoustics principal, Russell Cooper. "A wide hall lacks the strong lateral reflections that help blend the sounds of an orchestra and create a spacious, enveloping sound environment. The Center was a very low volume hall with a very dry acoustic, not very favorable to symphonic music or acoustic music in general."

The historic designation of the hall limited JaffeHolden's ability to alter its acoustic architecturally: plaster walls and a plaster ceiling (approx. 56 feet high) remained basically untouched in the restoration. As a result, says Cooper, the plan from the start for rendering the Center's acoustics friendly to unamplified music rested with two major elements: the addition of a full concert orchestra shell for the stage and electronic acoustic enhancement for the hall.

"The orchestra shell allows musicians to hear themselves play," says Cooper. Installation of a 13-piece moveable orchestra shell (from Secoa of Champlin, MN) that fits into the 44' wide x 26' high x 40' deep proscenium opening was the obvious solution.

For several years prior to the renovation, Illinois Wesleyan Civic Orchestra performed in the Center. A fter the early September tuning of the hall (with JaffeHolden's Cooper), Orchestra conductor, Steven Eggleston, said: "We were finally able to hear each other play. It's more than a dramatic difference. This is exciting."

Initially during the tuning, the orchestra set up on the stage extension. "The placement was an experiment," says JaffeHolden sound systems designer, Mark Turpin. "We wanted to see how well the natural forestage reflector worked in the downstage position, which might be needed for a very large ensemble. Actually it worked too well. It hurt the balance of the strings in the seating area, and had no benefit for inter-orchestral listening."

The Hall and Electronic Architecture
As well as help musicians hear themselves play, the orchestra shell also helps project and focus unamplified sound out into the hall. However, the addition of a shell alone could not solve the acoustic issues in the Center.

"We identified some echoes from the old sound system coming off the curved, under-balcony wall," says Cooper. JaffeHolden deadened the back wall with fiberglass treatment of the wall itself and a velour curtain, thus adding a bit more absorption to an already dry acoustic. But because of the historic and financial restraints on the architects and the acoustic design team, there was never any question that the ceiling would be removed or even the plaster sidewalls treated to create an architecturally resonant acoustic in the hall. From the start, JaffeHolden's solution to the acoustic issues of the Center was to install an electronic architecture system using a LARES mainframe.

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