The Overture Foundation revealed plans Wednesday for the interior layout of 10 key spaces of the Overture Center being constructed on the 100 block of State Street.
Bill Butler, the Overture Project design team leader, presented concept drawings and gave updated information on the Overture Project’s interior designs.
Butler said the Overture’s glass rotunda will be one of the treasured elements of the plan. The skylight dome will be illuminated at night and shine down into the rotunda amphitheater below street level through a circular opening in the amphitheater’s ceiling. At street level, the opening will allow visitors to see and hear the performances below.
“The performances will echo into the rotunda and give the building spontaneity and life,” Butler said.
Butler said another impressive feature of the Overture project is the Overture Hall.
“The Overture Hall will be one of the most prestigious performance venues in the United States, if not the world,” Butler said.
The Overture project is promoted as an effort to improve the performing- and visual-arts facilities in Madison.
The project involves the renovation of the Madison Civic Center, the Oscar Mayer Theater and the Isthmus Playhouse. The buildings will encompass the entire Civic Center block and include the construction of Overture Hall and a new Madison Art Center.
Butler said the hall will have 2,200 wide seats and contain a rippling canopy ceiling that draws the viewer’s eye towards the stage.
“The room is extremely intimate, and every seat in the house will have a great view,” Butler said.
He said one of the purposes of the meeting was to stress the practicality and versatility of each space for the board to consider programming options.
“We’ve found new uses for the spaces each time we’ve reviewed the plans,” he said.
Mike Huffman, the Developer’s Representative, said when students return in the fall they can expect to see the shape and structure of the Overture Hall and rotunda.
“By November we will have full building enclosure, and the buildings will be sealed up for the interior work during the winter months,” Huffman said.
Bob D’Angelo, Civic Center director, said he is pleased that social functions will not take precedence over performance and rehearsal when spaces are in demand.
“The symphony orchestra can’t rehearse at the Civic Center now, but when the Overture Center is built, they will [be able to],” D’Angelo said.
Butler said the Overture Center for the Arts will create a unifying triangle among the larger buildings in Madison.
“The triangle starts with the Capitol building, to the Monona Terrace and is completed with the Overture Center,” Butler said.
The project’s construction cost is estimated at over $100 million. The Overture Development Corporation, a non-profit organization, will borrow up to $115 million to construct the project using revenue bonds. A gift by Madison businessman W. Jerome Frautschi will provide credit support for the debt, and the city of Madison will have no financial obligation for the debt.
George Austin, president of the Overture Foundation, said the project is 20 percent complete. The opening of the initial phase of construction work, which includes Overture Hall and the rotunda amphitheater, is slated for mid-2004.
The remaining second phase of construction will begin in January 2004, and the entire project’s completion is set for December 2005.
