Promotion: California firm House&Robertson Architects is set to construct a new lot for Paramount in Hollywood that will provide the film studio with four additional sound stages, large enough to house full-scale sets for its major motion pictures.
The project will see the art deco buildings of LA’s former Technicolor and Metro Pictures headquarters refurbished and supplemented with several office buildings and state-of-the-art production facilities to become the Echelon Television Center.
Just off Santa Monica Boulevard, the lot will accommodate four massive new sound stages to supplement the existing 30 stages in the main Paramount lot, which originally opened in 1926 and is located just a few blocks away.
The design “blends sound stage and production facilities for the ultimate studio lot”, House&Robertson Architects said.
Spread across two buildings and 15,000 square feet on the southern side of the property, the sound stages were designed by project architect Jingwen He in close collaboration with a team of technical specialists to “ensure acoustic performance in every single component in the building system”.
Invented with the advent of “talking pictures”, sound stages have to be soundproof so that no outside noises can interfere with the filming going on inside.
“From an architect’s perspective, the scope of work for soundstage building is way beyond design and space planning,” He told Dezeen.
“Soundstages are the heart of the studio operation, and their technical quality and availability are key factors for a production company choosing a studio.”
Housed in two blocky, warehouse-style buildings with 40-foot ceilings, the Echelon Television Center stages were designed based on an ambient noise study and a vibration analysis report to achieve an NC 25 rating for indoor noise levels – also standard for churches and recording studios.
Insul-quit, a proprietary sound-absorbing blanket designed for Hollywood standards, will be used to wrap all of the interior walls and ceilings.
Even the HVAC system will be acoustically lined and operate at a low velocity, while two additional layers of insulation under the floor minimise noise and vibration from the parking garage below.
Motorised reinforced concrete rolling doors with built-in sound traps and acoustic seals provide truck access, so that sets and equipment can be transported to the stage.
A grid system, installed just above the soundstage floor, supports lighting fixtures, microphones and other equipment needed for filming.
The technical crew can access these utilities from above via a wood-frame catwalk with removable guardrails and floorboards that provides a path through the building’s web of trusses, reinforced by masonry columns.
Large horizontal structural members create a wide-open uninterrupted floor plan to accommodate everything from major motion picture sets to TV shows with a live studio audience, although moveable acoustic wall partitions can be used to divvy up the building if needed.
“The iconic space is pretty versatile,” He explained. “Free of in-between structural obstructions, it’s capable of hosting miscellaneous Paramount special events like gatherings and celebrations, art exhibitions, masquerades etc.”
To find out more about the sound stages and the Echelon Television Centre, visit the project website.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for Perkins Eastman as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
