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Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Central School District located near Tug Hill, New York, affectionately known as “The Snow Capital of the World,” was in need of renovation for their junior-senior high school auditorium and music departments.  This makeover was to encompass a full gut of both the auditorium and the adjacent music spaces.

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The project called for significant improvements to benefit their theatrical and live music performances in the auditorium.  It included addressing the acoustics, audio, video, theatrical lighting and controls, HVAC noise, and house lighting.  Likewise, the music spaces would gain better-quality acoustics and reduced mechanical noise.

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Ashley McGraw architects contracted AVL Designs Inc. as their consultant for this project. Working with the team at Ashley McGraw and FS Engineering,  plans were developed to radically change all these spaces.  

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As with any renovation project, existing conditions can be a limiting factor. The school district had hoped to raise the fly space over the stage and to provide a catwalk in the auditorium.  For a variety of reasons, these could not be accomplished so viable alternatives were developed.  A motorized truss was installed in the auditorium allowing access to the theater lighting.  The rigging system was replaced, allowing for safe operation on stage within the limits of the building height.  To make loading and unloading of arbors easier, a brick house system was incorporated into this plan. Sidewall box torms* were added to assist with lighting areas in front of the stage that could not be reached using the truss. *Torms= proscenium length curtains  

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.A significantly enlarged control booth was added to allow audio, lighting, video control, and motorized spotlight control. This last item was required due to the room not having a location for manually operated spotlights.  

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The follow-me system allows an operator in the booth to control motorized lighting fixtures utilizing a point-of-view camera to follow people on stage accurately.

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HVAC noise control was a challenge due to having reuse of some ductwork and chase locations within the building. One significant noise-related challenge was in locating a mechanical room above and behind the stage with a storage room below. Isolating mechanical noise so that it does not enter the rear of the stage was achieved through a variety of methods and it was successful. Target noise levels within the auditorium and music rooms were also met with a combination of duct linings and silencers in critical locations within the duct.    

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The new lighting system consists of all LED fixtures from ETC, and VariIight. The new audio system includes a digital console from Allen and Heath, loud speakers from Fulcrum Acoustics, control systems from Crestron, wireless microphones from Sennheiser digital, projection from Panasonic, PTZ camera from Panasonic and many other products. The auditorium was just commissioned in the third week of January 2025 and will be put to good use for shows starting in the spring.

The music spaces were renovated as well providing significantly improved acoustics.  

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Copyright AVL Designs Inc. 2025+

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This cafeteria project at Webster Spry Middle School involved entirely new construction as they were adding a fully operational auditorium where they could put on plays, concerts, lectures and other live productions. A theatrical stage was added with direct garage door openings onto the exterior to facilitate load in and load out for various types of events that they would be hosting.

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Known as the “Webster Spry Cafetorium,” it now has full stage rigging as well as a complete audio system, video system, and theatrical lighting system. Due to this being a combined space used for cafeteria functions as well as performances, and the fact that there is no permanent seating in the room to absorb sound, acoustical treatments had to be incorporated into the ceilings, walls, and other aspects of the room to provide appropriate acoustic conditions.

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The control room was elevated to make way for cafeteria use. This change then made it necessary to enable remote monitoring so that the audio operator can hear what is going on in the room below.  Pro lighting consists of color changing LEDs in various locations in the room, which you can see in the pictures.

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Back to the “cafetorium” tag. The middle school uses this facility as a lunchroom, a teaching/study area and, now, an auditorium. Anyone remember what the sound was like in your old school cafeteria?  Well, nothing has changed! Cafeteria sound, untreated, is like living in a tin-can.

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. We discussed the ins and outs of handling unbridled sound in cafeterias in a previous post entitled “Help, I Work In A Cafeteria And I Think I’m Going Deaf!”  Needless to say, we put our expertise to work in conquering the “tin-can-sound-chamber-syndrome” and the acoustic quality in this cafetorium has vastly improved. Happy ending!

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Copyright AVL Designs Inc. 2024+

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