Mark Cavagnero Associates Architects

    • Projects
    • Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera
    Interior Concert
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    Exterior
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    Interior Hall
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    Interior Hall
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    Interior
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    Floor Plans
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    Scagliola Column Detail
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    Interior
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    Site Plan
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    Transverse Section
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    Longitudinal Section
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    Process Renderings
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    • Photography
    • Drawings
    • Renderings

    Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera

    Status

    Completed, 2016

    Size

    40,000 sf

    Client

    San Francisco Opera War Memorial Opera House

    Scope

    Programming, Concept Design, Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documentation, Construction Administration

    Project Team

    Mark Cavagnero
    Kang Kiang
    Felicia Dunham
    Olga Luebker

    Project Collaborators

    General Contractor: WEBCOR Builders
    Owner’s Representative: D.R. Young Associates
    Structural Design/Build Subcontractor: Tipping Structural Engineers
    Mechanical Design/Build Subcontractor: AIRCO Mechanical, Inc.
    Electrical Design/Build Subcontractor: Decker Electric Co. Inc.
    Plumbing Design/Build Subcontractor: Pribuss Engineering, Inc.
    Telecommunications: TEECOM
    Preservation: Carey & Co., Inc.
    Architectural Lighting / Daylighting Consultant: ARUP
    Acoustical Consultant: ARUP
    Theater Consultant: ARUP
    Green Building Consultant: Thornton Tomasetti
    Specifications: Emily Borland Specifications
    Code Consultant: ARUP
    Glazing Consultant: Maurya McClintock Façade Consulting
    Signage Consultant: Kate Keating Associates
    Security Consultant: Guidepost Solutions LLC
    Architectural Photography: Tim Griffith

    Special Features

    Certified LEED Gold

    Description

    The fourth floor of the historic War Memorial Veterans Building is the new home of the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera. The center consolidates most of the San Francisco Opera’s operations into a single site and provides two performance venues to accommodate smaller, experimental performances compared to the adjacent Opera House. The fourth floor was originally the home of SFMOMA for over six decades, then a law library and dormant for many years—until February 2016 when it reopened as the Wilsey Center and returned to a public art function. 

    The center houses a 299-seat Atrium Theater, a flexible Education Studio, costume studio, support spaces, two public exhibition galleries, and administrative offices. The 4,500 square foot atrium theater is reconfigurable to house raked seating and stage options to accommodate an array of productions. The theater is acoustically isolated and utilizes state-of-the-art technology to provide the best in viewer experience.

    Historic detailing within the space had been covered over the passing decades and was carefully revealed and restored during construction. New design elements of glass and steel are used to be deferential to the existing Beaux Arts detailing, and by contrast celebrate the historic architectural splendor. Wherever possible, new elements are held back from the existing; new glass walls touch the historic plaster with light, thin frames and raised floors are held back from the columns or walls to not change the proportions of the historic. The building is designated as a National Historic Landmark and California Historic Resource. The project received LEED Gold certification.

    Location

    Recognition

    Awards

    Architectural Record, Good Design is Good Business Award, 2017
    California Preservation Foundation, Preservation Design Award, 2016

     

    Publications

    KQED Arts, November 17, 2015
    San Francisco Chronicle, November 17, 2015
    San Francisco Chronicle, December 5, 2014
    San Francisco Examiner, June 28, 2015
    San Francisco Magazine, February 2016
    Broadway World, November 17, 2015