flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

A cultural and business center that’s a hub for a company and—maybe—a city

Performing Arts Centers

A cultural and business center that’s a hub for a company and—maybe—a city

Capital One Hall had been in the works for two decades.


By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | November 7, 2021
Capital One Hall's exterior features marble cladding and soaring windows.
Capital One Hall in Tysons, Va., is clad in Italian marble that surrounds soaring windows. Images: HGA (c) Alan Karchmer

On October 1, the 125,000-ft Capital One Hall opened in Tysons, Va., as the centerpiece of the sprawling, 24.5-acre Capital One Center campus that includes the headquarters for Capital One Financial Services Corporation. The Hall, which encompasses several performance, corporate, and gathering spaces that include a 2.5-acre sky park on its roof, is being touted as one of the missing pieces in fulfilling Tysons’ aspiration to be ranked among America’s premier metropolises.

“This complex project will be a destination for all to enjoy and experience,” said Jonathan Griffith, Capital One Center’s Managing Director, in a prepared statement.”

“As a Fairfax County resident, I’ve been watching the evolution of this project for years,” added Scott Cryer, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Associate Vice President and Principal with HGA, which provided architectural and design services for this project, which has been in the works for two decades, ever since Capital One purchased land that had partly been used previously as a baseball field. What was missing from Tysons, and what the Hall brings to the table, Cryer explained to BD+C in a Zoom call, is a large performance space and an equally prominent public space.

The project team on Capital One Hall included Whiting-Turner Construction (GC), Thornton Tomasetti (SE), ARUP (Code and Life Safety), WSP and GA Design (architectural consultants), and Stages Consultants (theater, acoustics, and AV consultant).

THREE PERFORMANCE SPACES

The building features a 1,600-seat performance hall, a 225-seat Black Box theater called The Vault, a four-story open event space called The Atrium that can accommodate 1,300 people standing or 300 seated at tables, The Terrace that’s adjacent to the Atrium for cocktail parties and receptions of 450 standing or 180 seated, and The Perch, a public rooftop park and amphitheater for smaller concerts with a 230-person capacity.

The top floor of Capital One Hall has The Board Room for executive meetings of up to 20 people. And the ground floor has 21,000 sf of retail space. (The building is next to an existing Wegmans supermarket.) The venue offers a rooftop biergarten and other food and beverage options. (ASM Global manages the building.) Next spring, a miniature golf course and food-truck court are set to open on the roof.

The 300-suite Watermark Hotel that’s adjacent to The Hall was built simultaneously, but with a different project team.

The next phase for this campus project will be the construction of two towers, 30 and 24 stories, respectively, with a total of 900,000 sf of office and retail space that are scheduled for delivery in 2023.

One of Capitol One Hall's performing spaces is a 1,600-seat venue.
The Hall's 1,600-seat performance space includes speakers built into the walls that are tunable to specific events.
 

A TIGHT FOOTPRINT TO WORK WITHIN

Michael Koch, AIA, NCARB, a project architect with HGA, noted during the Zoom call that the project team had to navigate what was a relatively tight rhombus-shaped footprint that required “shoehorning” the Hall into a space surrounded by existing (and higher) buildings. “We thought of this as a ‘box within a box’ approach,” Koch says. The performance and gathering spaces within the Hall also sit atop a large loading dock and enclosed parking area, each with limited clearances and depth.

site plans for capital one center
The site for Capital One Center had been used as a softball field. Image: HGA
 

This project presented unique acoustical challenges to prevent different structural elements from “touching,” and to mitigate noise and vibration from people and vehicles within different areas of the building. One solution was to remediate the building’s load paths with acoustical pads “down below and on the roof,” said Michael Cropper, Senior Associate with Thornton Tomasetti. (Those load packs had to meet a three-hour fire rating, as per county mandate, says Cropper.)

Koch added that the “acoustically enhanced hall” includes speakers that are tunable to the specific performance, and embedded behind perforated metal “wrappers” covering the walls.

Capital One Hall’s exterior is distinguished by marble cladding (from an Italian quarry chosen by ARUP) and windows that soar up to 100-ft tall. The site’s water-efficient landscaping includes a 30,000-sf green roof and 16 street-side bioretentions for treating and retaining stormwater. The building’s HVAC and energy recovery systems should reduce its energy consumption by 27 percent compared to a comparable code-compliant building. The project anticipates a LEED 2009 NC Gold certification.

Cryer observed that multifunctional buildings like Capital One Hall are becoming more common in developments around the country that want “density” and aim to be “part of the urban ecology.”

Related Stories

Performing Arts Centers | Oct 21, 2024

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center breaks ground on $336 million redevelopment of its 12-acre campus

In Newark, N.J., the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) has broken grown on the three-year, $336 million redevelopment of its 12-acre campus. The project will provide downtown Newark 350 mixed-income residential units, along with shops, restaurants, outdoor gathering spaces, and an education and community center with professional rehearsal spaces.

Performing Arts Centers | Oct 16, 2024

A famed performing arts center gets its first facelift in 25 years

When it’s completed in 2025, the Delacorte Theater in New York will be more accessible and operationally efficient.

Performing Arts Centers | Oct 10, 2024

Studio Gang's performing arts center for Hudson Valley Shakespeare breaks ground

A new permanent home for Hudson Valley Shakespeare, a professional non-profit theater company, recently broke ground in Garrison, N.Y. The Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center includes a 14,850 sf performance venue that will serve as a permanent home for the theater company known for its sweeping open-air productions of classics and new works.

Adaptive Reuse | Apr 5, 2024

McHugh Construction completes restoration of Chicago’s historic Ramova Theatre

Adaptive reuse project turns 1929 cinema into a live performance venue, adds a brewery and a taproom, and revives the Ramova Grill in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood.

Cultural Facilities | Mar 26, 2024

Renovation restores century-old Brooklyn Paramount Theater to its original use

The renovation of the iconic Brooklyn Paramount Theater restored the building to its original purpose as a movie theater and music performance venue. Long Island University had acquired the venue in the 1960s and repurposed it as the school’s basketball court.

Performing Arts Centers | Feb 27, 2024

Frank Gehry-designed expansion of the Colburn School performing arts center set to break ground

In April, the Colburn School, an institute for music and dance education and performance, will break ground on a 100,000-sf expansion designed by architect Frank Gehry. Located in downtown Los Angeles, the performing arts center will join the neighboring Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Grand by Gehry, forming the largest concentration of Gehry-designed buildings in the world.

Giants 400 | Feb 8, 2024

Top 35 Performing Arts Center and Concert Venue Construction Firms for 2023

The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Holder Construction, McCarthy Holdings, Clark Group, and Gilbane Building Company top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest performing arts center and concert venue general contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.

Giants 400 | Feb 8, 2024

Top 40 Performing Arts Center and Concert Venue Engineering Firms for 2023

KPFF Consulting Engineers, Morrison Hershfield, ME Engineers, Thornton Tomasetti, and Arup top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest performing arts center and concert venue engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.

Giants 400 | Feb 8, 2024

Top 60 Performing Arts Center and Concert Venue Architecture Firms for 2023

Populous, DLR Group, Gensler, HGA, and Perkins Eastman top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest performing arts center and concert venue architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.  

Sponsored | BD+C University Course | Jan 17, 2024

Waterproofing deep foundations for new construction

This continuing education course, by Walter P Moore's Amos Chan, P.E., BECxP, CxA+BE, covers design considerations for below-grade waterproofing for new construction, the types of below-grade systems available, and specific concerns associated with waterproofing deep foundations.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021