The Fritzsche Center is an addition with auditorium, toilets and lobby. A future phase may add rehearsal and practice spaces. The auditorium is designed for regular worship, assembly, and all kinds of performances: concert band, chorus, jazz band, solos, dance, and drama. The auditorium is designed to be friendly both to small-scale daily worship services and large-scale weekly worship. The design was extremely cost conscious, aiming to provide just enough isolation to allow the room to function comfortably, and HVAC background noise that is quiet but not silent. The room’s internal acoustic balances supportiveness, liveness, clarity and the control of loudness, with a few strategically placed acoustic curtains to allow more bloom for a choral concert or a cleaner, more controlled sound for a jazz band. A simple but high-quality audio video system provides excellent amplification, easy recording, and video projection. The performance platform has hinged side panels to create a simple proscenium for dance and drama. Theatrical lights can be hung between the acoustic clouds. The room’s one dramatic gesture is an operable glass Nanawall partition at the back of the stage, which allows fair-weather performances to incorporate audience seated on the lawn outside of the addition.
