Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to get a second home

Minneapolis-based KKE Architects has designed a new venue for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, helping to expand ASO's reach into the northern suburbs and provide a home for up to 35 national concerts annually, as well as 15-25 arts-related, family, and free events in Fulton County.

The theater includes seating for 7,000 under a translucent fabric, fan-shaped roof suspended over a steel-framed structural system made up of large box truss girders and columns set 60 feet above the seating area. Within the covered area are 4,750 stadium-style seats and 46 box suites, plus 2,068 removable seats. An additional 5,000 patrons can be seated outside on a lawn area surrounded by two plazas with a decorative façade and six entry gates.

Upon completion of this project in May 2008, ASO, which also performs concerts at the Chastain Park Amphitheater in Atlanta, will become the only U.S. orchestra to simultaneously operate two major amphitheatres.