Olympic College's Instruction Center and William D. Harvey Theatre Exemplify Multi-Use Educational Facilities

	William D. Harvey Theatre

The programming for Olympic's new College Instruction Center was driven by a unique aspiration for the campus -- creating a new campus entry quadrangle with a central gathering space. That goal was met by the new William D. Harvey Theatre, a 276-seat multi-use auditorium which is at the heart of the truly multi-purpose/multifunctional instructional center which also includes a music ensemble classroom, visual arts studios, film production and editing suites, music rooms and a gallery. As one of several community colleges on Washington State's Kitsap Peninsula, Olympic's theatre program had developed a very popular "Acting for Video" concentration that welcomes both students in the arts and those with a focus on public speaking in a broadcast setting. The facility program required the visual and performance art instruction spaces to support this course and other related arts curricula, and, to complete the multi-disciplinary composition of the building, a separate program space for health care training as well.

Auerbach Pollock Friedlander provided theatre and audio-video consulting for the project in collaboration with Schacht Aslani Architects and acoustician Basel Jurdy at Sparling. The intimate main stage theatre was planned and designed as a convertible space, easily transformed from lecture to music or theatre, while relying on minimal labor and very rapid changeover. Pivoting wing walls with acoustically-shaped faces and black velour backs present the choice of either music or lecture with the spin of a panel. Tracked rear walls offer acoustical surfaces or a rear black drapery -- once again, rapid change for minimal labor. For recruitment, a center rear aisle with right angle light lock and a windowed entry door allow a peek into the intimate Harvey Theatre.

Auerbach Pollock Friedlander's scope of work included LED theatrical lighting systems for training purposes in the studio. Automated rigging and theatrical audio-video systems are provided throughout the theatre and back-of-house support spaces. In addition to the theatre, the firm provided variable acoustics and audio-video systems design services for the music ensemble classroom.

The College Instruction Center opened in January and the response from students and the community has been overwhelmingly positive. Olympic Jazz Classic, the Bremerton Symphony, and youth orchestras are just some of the performers scheduled to entertain in the Harvey Theatre, with more shows to come.