Ngineers for An

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Icon The restoration of Radio City Music Hall returns a landmark to its original glory-with a number Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/memagazineselect/article-pdf/123/09/56/6383177/me-2001-sep3.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 of updates. By Ellen Lampert-Greaux

ADIO CITY MUSI HALL is not only the largest theater in New York City, it is R easily the most famous. Built in 1932 as part of Rockefeller Center, it was hailed by The New York H era ld Ti·ihul1 e as " the most remarkable auditorium ever built." At the height of its glory, the hall was a glamorous showplace for first-run films and live entertainment on a sta ge that mea­ sures 144 by 66 Y2 fee t. With almost 6,000 seat, Radio City can host close to 36,000 gues ts in a single day, for in­ stance, w hen the annual Christmas Spectacular sell s out all six daily perform.ances. But things were not always cheerful at this bastion of pop­ ular entertainment.

SAVED FROM THE WRECKING BAll In the 1970s, the building was slated for demoli­ tion, as incredible as that might seem today. An eleventh- hour award of landmark status in 1979 saved the structure from the wrecking ball. An icon of American art de co architecture, R adio City Music H all has received a much-needed restoration and is once again every bit as remark­ able as it was when it opened.

Stretching along the entire block of Sixth Av­ Designers' reworking of the Music Hall's marquee included a return to historic neon colors. enue between 50th and 51st Streets in Manhat- tan, R adio City Music H all was originally designed by Pfeiffer Associates, spearheaded the eight-month renova­ architect Edward Durell Stone. Interior designer Donald tion of the facility, which was completed in the fall of 1999. Deskey was responsible for the styli sh look of the large Several specialist firms, most based in N ew York, also lobbies and lounges . worked on the project: Robert Silman Associates, structur­ Architect Hugh H ardy, principal of H ardy Holzman al engineers; M eyer, Strong & Jones Engineers, mechanical engineers; Fisher D achs Associates, theater consultants; El/en Lampert-Greallx is a freelall ce writer based ill New York. Fisher Marantz Stone, architectural lighting designers, and

56 SEPT EMB E R. 2011l MEC H AN ICA L E Cl EE R.I N C J Barr & Barr, construction managers. The acoustician, ]affe for a new theatrical lighting system. N ew ai r conditioning H olden Acousti cs, is based in N orwalk, Conl1. was installed and so was electrical power support for a new "This is an interpretive restoration," H ardy said. building-w ide voice and data communication system, as To give the building as mu ch of its original look as pos­ well a a street-side power and control room for remote sibl e, extensive research went into lighting fixtures, wall broadcasting trucks. coverings, furniture, carpeting, and curtains. At the sa me " Our chall enge was to update the mechanical and elec­ time, a number of contemporary updates deviated from trica l systems without disturbing the landmarked interi­ the ori ginal as needed. ors," Palucci explained. " All of the architectural fini shes When the army of architects, engineers, and consul­ were to be restored to their original condition, so our tants attacked the restorati on of R adio City Music H all, designs are conceal ed in bac k-of- house areas ." they discovered that many of the technical systems in the The consultants found that much of the original tech­ building were the same ones that were in place when the nology was still in place in the stage area as well. For ex­ building opened more than 65 yea rs ea rli er. ample, a vintage hydraulic system operated three stage John Palucci, an HVAC engineer, was project manager lifts and the orches tra lift. Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/memagazineselect/article-pdf/123/09/56/6383177/me-2001-sep3.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 for Meyer, Strollg & ]ones. His colleague, Trevor Rick­ etts, served as electrical engineer. According to Palucci, GUARDING THE LIFTS his firm was hired by R adio C ity's management before There is a story that, w hen World War II broke out, the renova tion began. guards were stationed by the li fts to make sure the tech­ "We cam e in to review the condition of the mechan­ nology was n't stolen, because it could also be used for ical and electrical infras tructure," Palu cci sa id . " Many aircraft carrier lifts. of the ys tems required attention ." That was because "Each lift had a big valve," sa id ] oe M obilia, project many sys tems dated back to 1932. Before th e renova ­ manager and associate principal at Fisher D ac hs Associ­ ti on was over, the theater receive d more than 1 ,000 ates . "These were the heart of the system, but they were miles of new wire. nursing the parts along and were rea ll y living on bor­ The electrical service was upgraded to support the plans rowed time. The fa ct that they were still working is a

Hidden elements, including controls for the auditorium's sunset coves and hydraulic valves beneath the sta ge, were replaced during the restoration .

M ECHAN ICAL E G INEER I NG SEPTEMBER 2001 57 tribute to Peter Clark, who installed the original system, the stage, where a driver hidden inside can take over to and the attention the staff gave to keeping it running." direct the vehicle across the stage. Although R adio City technicians (including C hris Also still in place are perforations for a steam curtain. R ober, who is responsible for the maintenance of the T hey run across the front of the stage, parallel to the lifts, and Eric Titcomb, who runs them during perfor­ footlights, and allow a curtain of steam to fill the prosce­ m ances) would have liked to keep the old sys tem in nium arch, enabling the R ockettes to make appearances place, the hydraulic valves were ultimately replaced. shrouded in mist. T his mea nt that the control system also needed to be Mobilia and the team of Fisher Dachs Associates collabo­ updated because the new interface could not communi­ rated with the mechanical engineers from Meyer, Strong & ca te with the bea utiful brass control panel that cam e Jones on many of the electrical and m echanical iss ues of with the thea ter. the renovation. "The engineers worked with us on adding If you go backstage today, you can see the panel still in extra power and redistribution of power throughout the place, with a computer console beside it. "The intention is building," Mobilia said. Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/memagazineselect/article-pdf/123/09/56/6383177/me-2001-sep3.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 that you can run the show from the computer or from the His fi rm also designed a new, highly sophisticated stage original panel (which has been updated) if yo u want to," li ghting system , with dimming and control equipment Mobilia said. The computer seems to be the control of from Electronic Thea tre Controls in Wisconsin and Eth­ choice for the new system, which was designed and in­ ernet connections for two-way cOlTIn1unication and dis­ stalled by J.R. Clancy ofSyracuse, N .Y. tribution oflighting protocol. O ther original elements incl ude a 43-foot-diam eter turntable that straddles the stage Lifts, an ice skating sur­ CABLES THROUGH THE WINDOWS face, and a car that can hold the orchestra . T he car can sit Before the renovation, electrical cables would often be on the lift to raise a 35-piece orchestra 13 fee t above the run throughout the building, som etimes in and out of stage. The lift also can lower the car full of musicians 27 upper story windows, for television broadcasts or other feet below stage level and bring it up again at the back of outside productions that rented the hall. The renova­ tion called fo r undedicated power lines and dis­ connect boxes to let television shows, such as the annual MTV Awards, tap into the building's power w ithout extensive cable runs. One of the unusual features of the auditorium is the barrel- vaulted ceiling, w ith color-changing "sunset" coves using a General Electric Thy­ ratron dimming system (which was also in place until the 1999 renova ti on). Today all of the light­ ing is run by new dimmers fro m Electronic Theatre Controls. The goal of architectural lighting throughout the building was twofold: to restore everything that w as there and to upgrade everything to m eet modern expectations. "The light levels were really low in some places, actually less than one foot-candle," said Scott H ershman, princi­ pal designer for Fisher Marantz Stone. Throughout the hall, the architectural light­ ing was updated, but with the sa me look as the incandescent so urces that were used in the pas t. "The halogen downlights are dimmed to warm them up," Hershman noted. "We looked at replacing some of th e lamps w ith more modern, longer-life sources, but found that the color rendering was wrong for the chara cter of the proj ect. There are a lot of reds and golds in the interiors." Just as H ardy H olzman Pfeiffe r worked to re­ store the original colors to the carpets, wall cov­ erings, and finishes, the lighting designers also worked to correct the color of the illumination. Where designers couldn't use longer-life lamps, Large r fixtures, such as the chandeliers in the grand foyer, were refurbished in place they relied on dimming to increase the lamp life because restorers chose to avoid the risks involved in moving them. as much as possible.

58 SE PTEMBE R 2001 MECH AN ICA L ENG I NEE I1- I NG A necessary update in the auditorium was a lighting sys tem that can serve three separate functi ons: work lights, emergency lights, and lights for the daily tours of the building. " Fo r work light th ere was just o ne 1,000-watt fix ture hanging in the middle of the space. It didn't even go up to the ceiling; it just hung there," H ershman said. A more fl exible replacement system uses 10 PAR -64 1,000-W long-life metal halide lamps in fixtures placed in a ceiling slot. Unlike m ost metal halide lamps, which take a while to light, these restrike immediately, making them usable for emergency lighting. Sconces, chandeli ers, and other fi xtures were pho­

tographed. M any of the fi x tures were taken down , Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/memagazineselect/article-pdf/123/09/56/6383177/me-2001-sep3.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 packed up, and sent out for res to rati on. The massive chandeliers in the grand foyer and other large decorative fixtures were restored in place, with a met­ al refinisher coming in to buff them up. "There was som e The art deco mural in the men's smoking room at Radio City Music Hall. fear in taking down the larger pieces," Hershm.an said. The designers also tackled a complete relight of the mark without having it be intrusive. "This is a fa bulous colorful neon marquee and signage on the exterior of building," H ershman sa id. "We were both blessed and the building. "We put a lot of effort into the marquee," cursed that it hadn't been touched since 1932. We wanted H ershman said. to bring it back to its former glory and meet today's re­ quirements without imposing 1999 on it. The idea was to KEEPING TO THE LETTER enhance it without taking away fi:om its splendor." To reduce m aintenance and increase reliability, the de­ The acousti cs in the auditorium were also in need of signers re-engineered the marquee to use sm aller trans­ updating. M ark Holden, the principal-in-charge for Jaffe formers, with fewer lamps per transformer. H olden, noted the special challenges of the project, in­ For example, the letter " 0 " in R adio has an outline, in­ cluding an odd echo. ner line, and central fill . "With separate tra nsformers, if "Sound bounced off the balcony rails in front of each one fa ils, you don't lose the whole letter," Herslunan said. mezzanine, and also off the walls and doors at the back of "The old clear tubes for the blue neon were not bright the auditorium," he noted. To his surprise, this was ap­ enough, so we used phosphor-coated tubes for a higher parently intentional, as the room was designed to have lu men output and drop in the transformer size." the sound bounce toward the bac k. But the original ceil­ There we re also what H ershman called "secret lights," ing arches (made of a sound-absorbent material) had because they literally could not be seen in a cove posi­ been painted over and had become more reflective as the tion. "We repainted the cove and increased the output years went by. of th e lamps. Now at least you can see them at night," "As amplication of performers increased, the echo got he said. "We also went back to the historic neon colors worse," H olden added. "The singers did not like the echo of the sign ." effect." To combat this, the acousticians made the rear wall The ori ginal specificati ons for the signs were found of the theater m ore sound-absorbent, with a new cotton and given to Broadway N ational and fib erglass ve rsion of the wall Si gn in R o nko nkoma, N.Y. , covering designed to absorb more where the old colors were recre­ A Couple of sound and reduce the echo. ated. Althoug h H ershman is Today, R adio City Music Hall quite a neon afi cionado, he call ed Blocks Away is used fo r concerts, film pre­ in n eon consultant Way ne mieres, and televise d events, as Strattman of Boston to help pre­ The site of ASME's International Mechanical well as for the C hristmas Spec­ pare the specifications. "The key Engineering Conference and Exposition No­ tacular fea turing the Rockettes . is to get colors you can reprodu ce vember 11-16 is the New York Hilton, at 53rd "Carniva l," a n ew springtime if the lamps break," said H ersh­ Street and Sixth Avenue, or the Avenue of the event, is sch eduled to open in man. "We picked glass tube col­ Americas, as it is officially called. M ay 2002. Now that it has been ors that exist in manu fac turers' The hotel is two blocks north of Radio City so spectacularl y restored, R adio Music Hall. Because of its unusual technical catalogs." They also made an illu­ ity Music H all ca n once again features, the restored art deco landmark was C rninated model of part of the sign chosen by the editors of Mechanical Engineer­ wear its nickname, Showplace of to check on the colors. ing as a possible site of interest for members the N ation, with pride. Throughout the entire project, attending the Congress. Information about "This was a special project for the goal of the architectural light­ Music Hall tours is available at (212) 247-4777. all of us," M obilia said. "There is mg was to integrate it into a land- reall y no place like it." •

M EC H A ICA L E G I NEER I NG SE PTEM B ER 2001 59