Tanglewood Music Center is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and a renowned cultural landmark nestled in the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. It welcomes many of the world’s best known classical and popular musicians for concerts, attracting audiences of 330,000 people in just three months. Architect and project partner, William Rawn of Boston’s William Rawn Associates, teamed with Consigli on the project to transform a summer concert venue into a $33 million, four-building, year-round addition to the 524-acre campus. The new Linde Center for Music and Learning made its debut on June 28, 2019.
“A commitment to accommodating complexity is part of Consigli’s DNA. I think they enjoy working with highly sophisticated clients and solving problems.”
– Architect William Rawn, ENR New England
© Robert Benson Photography
Consigli was tasked with a unique challenge: in 14 months, build a 25,000 sq. ft. world-class performance venue without disrupting any of the 2018 summer concert season. The Consigli team took a fast-track scheduling approach to ensure the buildings were enclosed by the spring, so less disruptive work could continue on the building’s interiors during the busy festival months. A strict delivery schedule was maintained and work was closely monitored to ensure the Tanglewood guest experience went uninterrupted. In naming Consigli the ENR New England “2019 Contractor of the Year,” the publication recognized Consigli for tackling some of the region’s most technically challenging projects, particularly those with unique schedule requirements.
The Linde Center at Tanglewood is an interconnected complex that includes a 200-seat, multi-purpose studio for rehearsals, lectures and events, a 150-seat café building with a servery and commercial kitchen, and a curved covered walkway connecting two additional learning/practice studios. The facility hosts space dedicated to the Tanglewood Music Center, a prestigious summer academy, and the Tanglewood Learning Institute, a popular lecture and adult education program. The project also incorporated an updated campus horticultural plan, which required a new irrigation system, preservation of a 100-year old oak tree and the planting of over 140 new trees and shrubs to provide welcome shade for concert-goers.
Consigli Project Manager David Brehaut described some of the challenges of the project, including the fact that the building facades are clad in a variety of materials—western red cedar shakes, curtain wall, zinc-coated copper reveals, sharp roof rakes, and fiberglass Z-Girts. He says, “it took quite a bit of coordination to get it right the first time,” citing Consigli’s pre-construction efforts to align the dissimilar materials and a stringent quality control process during construction to monitor the installation and create an effective air vapor barrier.
Tanglewood’s new studios and performance halls required extraordinary attention to acoustical detail, addressed through a design with fewer right angles and multi-layered flooring and wall systems to further dampen sound transfer within the spaces.
© Robert Benson Photography
In Studio E, the main studio space, all interior millwork was fabricated by Consigli’s Millshop in Pleasant Valley, NY and installed by in-house self-perform carpenters. Says Brehaut, “Each of the millwork-clad ceiling panels that conceal the HVAC ductwork, lighting systems, and rigging weigh between 300-400 lbs. and had to be carefully hoisted in place by two scissor lifts. A sliding wood screen conceals a sliding NanaWall. In the summer, Tanglewood can retract both systems to have open air-seating for performances.”
The new Linde Center for Music and Learning is a dynamic addition to Tanglewood’s campus—and a source of pride for Consigli—demonstrating the quality craftsmanship, schedule certainty and innovative approaches that distinguish the company as ENR New England’s 2019 Contractor of the Year.