Rice University
Brockman Hall for Opera

Location
Houston, Texas

Owner
Rice University

Team
Acoustics - Threshold
Architect - Allan Greenberg Architect
Theatre Consultant - Fisher Dachs Associates
Structural Engineer - Walter P. Moore
MEP Engineer - CEG Engineers
Lighting Design - Tillotson Associates

Size
84,000 square feet
600-seat opera theater

Schedule
Completed 2020

The Shepherd School of Music program draws the best students and prepares them for the professional stage requiring a venue for the most talented students and audiences in Houston. They needed a theatre that would equally prepare students for the stages upon which they’d perform after graduation.

The new Brockman Hall for Opera is an exemplary venue and a complement to Alice Pratt Brown Hall. As a whole the center provides audiences the opportunity to experience the best that the Shepherd School’s talented performers and esteemed guests have to offer.

A European tour at the beginning of design identified two favored precedents, one Italianate and one French. These were acoustically modeled and simulated in the immersive Threshold Auralization Studio – both visually and aurally – as benchmarks against which concepts for the new theatre could then be compared. The design that emerged from this intensive yet conversational process envelopes the listener aurally in a room with clear ties to both the French and Italian operatic traditions, and the process of simulation and deep conversation proved a powerful common experience.

“Together we created an ideal training facility that matches the caliber of the Shepherd School musicians,” said Robin Glosemeyer Petrone, a partner at Threshold Acoustics. “We created a facility to not only train the voices but also to create future audiences through a shared appreciation and love of the art.” Read the full story.