Most of the time I go to a venue to experience the performance. The first time I went to see a performance to experience a venue was at EMPAC [Intersection of 8th St & College Ave, Troy, NY 12180], and it was worth it.
The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center is located on the RPI campus and for years I’ve driven by the building intrigued. Sometimes I find college campuses tricky to drive around, but I found the free parking lot with great ease thanks to the plentiful signage.
On the night we visited there was a gorgeous sunset up on top of the hill, just adding to the wonderful aura.
The building is equally as beautiful on the inside as it is the out. Designed to fit four venues, plus studios and labs, all under one roof. Every detail inside the place was just plain fancy, it was eye-opening to be on such a ritzy campus compared to my bare-bones concrete alma mater, SUNY Albany!
Created to make things sound incredible, the concert hall has convex walls, fabric ceiling for its acoustic properties, and air comes from under seats instead of noisy overhead fans. So what did I see? I picked a random performance from the calendar, something I’ve never done before! We went in knowing nothing, completely surprised, and it was very…different.
Unlike anything I’ve ever seen, that’s for sure. But it was very interesting and something we still speak about today. The lights, performers, effects, and of course acoustics were all top notch making for a really great experience.
+Earlier at RPI, Hirsch Observatory