Atlanta Symphony Center
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Symphony Center is a proposed concert hall in Atlanta, Georgia that would be the new home of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The site for the new structure is in Midtown on 14th Street just south of the current Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center.
To create a unique and innovative concert hall, the ASO facilitated a unique, innovative and inclusive design process that included a world-class design team, along with 12 community-based task forces of 250 participants, leading to unusually detailed plans beyond the customary “schematic design” phase of a construction project. Symphony Center is designed to bring new richness to performances and new resources to the community. Architect Santiago Calatrava was selected to design the facility and delivered a monumental design that would serve as a "postcard" for the city. With the input from the Task Forces, Calatrava was given free rein for everything outside the "box", and the interior performance space was under the primary control of acoustician Larry Kirkegaard and his firm Kirkegaard Associates, with the intent to provide a superior, state-of-the-art acoustical environment.
Symphony Center also will have a significant economic impact on Atlanta and Georgia, according to a 2005 study conducted by the international consulting firm Deloitte Consulting, LLP released in September 2005:
$2 billion in total economic impact
- $1.45 billion during the first 10 years of operation
- $537 million during construction
$116 million in tax revenues through 2020
- $67 million in State taxes
- $20 million in City taxes
- $29 million in County taxes
2,100 NEW jobs (annual average 2011-2020, after construction)
The Symphony Center’s new Learning Center will make possible an expansion of current education programs, while it creates a nucleus for a national music education center. Designed as a flexible space that will facilitate music education collaboration, the Learning Center will include education options for seniors, distance learning, school performances and expanded partnerships with other institutions. Building on the foundation of current partnerships and the possibilities of state-of-the-art facilities, the Learning Center will offer these new opportunities:
- “Virtual” music education accessible to any classroom or student;
- Interactive learning on site, designed in partnership with Georgia Tech;
- A center of continuing education for music teachers statewide;
- Master classes by renowned artists available to multiple institutions simultaneously;
- New classroom and performance spaces for teachers and students at all levels;
- High-tech laboratory for students in music technology; and
- Unique incubator for testing, implementing and marketing new ideas and inventions in music technology.
The cost for the 279,600-square-foot (25,980 m²) facility is estimated at $300 million, with $111 million raised by 2006. Significant donations have been made by several entities including Arthur Blank and the Blank Family Foundation ($35M), The Coca-Cola Company ($10M), SunTrust Bank ($5M), Wachovia Foundation ($5M) and the first ever joint gift from competing law firms Alston & Bird and King & Spalding ($5M).
Construction will commence when all funding is identified, estimated no sooner than 2012.
