A hall where the farthest seat still hears the oboe breathe.
Design proposal VT-2611-AC, issued November 2, 2026 for Lorraine, Desmond, Ilse and the capital campaign committee. Open until January 8, 2027.
Varrow Teague Architects proposes to design Ashmere's new 1,800-seat concert hall. We've drawn the proposal as a set of sheets. Start with the long section, pick any seat and see what it sees and hears.
- $7,400,000
- Design fee, all phases
- 1,800
- Seats in one hall
- 32 m
- Conductor to the farthest seat
- Jan 2032
- Opening night
You asked for a hall the orchestra can grow into for a hundred years.
A-101Your request for qualifications, section 2, read back to you
A hall the Ashmere Symphony can grow into for a hundred years.
A room tuned for 110 players and a full chorus, with a canopy and banners that retune it for a string quartet on a Tuesday.
Sheet A-603No seat we'd be embarrassed to sell.
Every seat within 32 meters of the conductor. The long section lets you check any of them yourself, row by row.
Sheet A-201Keep the season playing while we build.
The hall goes up on the east lot. The Auditorium stays open until the orchestra's last rehearsal before moving into the new room.
Sheet A-501A building the campaign can raise $160 million around.
Renderings, a 1:10 model and a seat a donor can sit in, each ready ahead of a campaign date.
Sheet A-604The 1968 Auditorium (dashed) and the new hall (filled), same scale, stage fronts aligned. 1:500.
Pick any seat. The drawing shows what it sees and hears.
A-201Long section through the hall, 1:200Section cut on the center line
Tap a seat. The vermilion line is the sound straight from the orchestra, the dashed one is its first bounce off the canopy or the ceiling, and the dotted plum line is your view over the head in front. Switch the shape and the hall redraws around you.
- Distance to the conductor
- 0 m
- Direct sound arrives after
- 0 ms
- Off the canopy
- 0 ms later
- Off the ceiling
- 0 ms later
- Off the nearest side wall
- 0 ms later
- View over the row in front
- 0 mm
In plan, the nearest wall
Close sound and a clear view.
Three shapes for 1,800 people, and the one we'd build.
A-301Plans at the stalls level, 1:500Construction costs at 2026 prices
The hybrid keeps the shoebox's side walls for the stalls and wraps terraces around the stage, so no seat is farther than 32 meters from the podium.
It's the shape we'd build. It costs $6 million more than a shoebox and $12 million less than a full vineyard.
One evening, from the bus stop to row C.
A-401Unfolded section, street to seatScroll to walk it
A concertgoer's first visit, 38 minutes from the curb to the downbeat. Every stop on the way is a design decision the board will be asked to fund.
Five years from the first sketch to opening night.
A-501Design and construction scheduleJanuary 2027 to January 2032
The board votes at five gates. The campaign gets something new to show at each of its own dates, and the orchestra rehearses in the room for three months before anyone buys a ticket.
What does the board commit to, and when can it stop?
A-601For the Board Chair
You aren't signing for $7.4 million in one vote. The fee is paid phase by phase and the board can stop at any of five gates, owning everything drawn to that point. Pick a gate.
Will the hall earn its keep on the nights the orchestra is away?
A-602For the Executive Director
The room retunes itself. Fabric banners drop from the walls and the canopy lowers, so a jazz trio or a graduation sounds right in a hall built for Mahler. Choose the nights you'd program and see the season fill.
123 days for rehearsal, recording and upkeep
Will the players hear each other from the timpani to the first desk?
A-603For the Music DirectorStage plan, 1:100
- Farthest two players apart
- 0 m
- Time for sound to cross the stage
- 0 ms
- Canopy height we'd set
- 0 m
- Risers raised
- 0 of 6
What can we put in front of a donor, and when?
A-604For the capital campaign committee
Drag through the schedule. Every piece the campaign can show is lit from the month it's ready, lined up against your own campaign dates.
The fee, line by line, to the dollar.
A-701Fee scheduleFixed fee, invoiced monthly by phase
The five phases of basic services are the same in every version of this proposal. Everything below them can drop on its own, and each line says what changes if it does.
We'd keep every line. If the board needs a lower number, drop the seat prototype first and keep the model, which is where the room is proven.
The terms in plain words.
A-801Summary of the agreement we'll send for review
- The fee
- Fixed for the scope on this page. It changes only if the board changes the scope, and then by a written change order you approve first.
- Paying it
- Monthly, against the phase in progress, net 30 days. Nothing is billed ahead of the work.
- Stopping
- The board can stop at any gate on 30 days' notice and pays only for work done to that date.
- The drawings
- Ashmere owns a permanent license to use every drawing and model for this hall, its upkeep and any future renovation.
- The acoustics
- At Gate 2 we agree a reverberation target with Ilse. We keep testing in the model and the room until it's met, at no extra fee.
- Our team
- Nadia leads the project from first sketch to opening night. Changing the project lead needs the board's written consent.
- Insurance
- Professional liability of $10 million per claim, kept in force for six years after opening.
- Disputes
- A meeting of principals first, then mediation in Ashmere's home county before anything else.
Four things we haven't settled yet.
- Organ or no organA pipe organ changes the choir terrace, adds about $4 million to construction and a year to the music budget. We'd like the board's view before Gate 1.
- The east lot's groundWe haven't seen soil borings yet. If they show soft clay, piles add cost below grade. Borings are scheduled for February 2027.
- Auditorium during constructionWe've assumed it stays open. If it closes earlier, the site gets easier and cheaper, and the season moves.
- The public launch dateThe fly-through is planned for October 2027. If the campaign goes public sooner, the renderings move up and the visualization line grows.
Sign the sheet, and we start with a site walk.
A-901AcceptanceProposal VT-2611-AC, open until January 8, 2027
Four signatures from Ashmere and one from us. Once they're in, we walk the east lot with Desmond on January 11 and open the shape study the week after.
This page works as a demonstration. Signing here records nothing and sends nothing.