Berrien Springs Arts and Athletic Center

Grand Opening

September 8th, 2022 is a day we will never forget when the doors to Berrien Springs Public Schools’ new Arts & Athletic Center were officially opened to the public. This amazing night capped off years of planning, design, and construction for a facility that is sure to impact the southwest Michigan community for years to come. Thank you Berrien Springs for putting your trust in our architectural team for such an important project.

Carmi Design Group would like to take you through this wonderful facility one step at a time. Please join us!

Lobby

1. The lobby curtain wall glazing is 28 feet high, segmented aluminum framed, and has its own structural framing to assist with lateral wind forces

2. The floor pattern has two colors of polished concrete, the geometry of the arcs with-in the floor are replicated in the ceiling, and some arcs continue out to the concrete entry plaza

3. If you stand at the center flagpole and walk toward the entry lobby, the geometry of the curved curtain wall and roof overhang throws the reverberation back at you with a ½ second delay.

4. There is a time capsule hidden in this room. Please read all small print to find its location.

Gymnasium

5. The gymnasium seats 1,570 spectators in the two bleacher sections on the north and south sides.

6. The center court competition hardwood floor is made up of ‘firsts’ of selected maple, while the remaining hardwood maple are ‘thirds’ or better. The color of the floor is not just stain, but the color of the selected wood.

7. There are twenty basketball backboards hanging from the roof structure. All are operable and retractable. There are also two retractable dividing gym curtains.

Locker Rooms

8. The locker rooms for the home team are dedicated to the home team. Visiting teams are able to use the PE Locker Rooms.

9. There is a game clock connected to the scoreboard clock in each of the competition locker rooms. No need to guess when the half is over and the team needs to retake the floor.

10. The exterior windows allow natural light in, but do not cast a silhouette or shadow of occupants within the locker rooms. Special coatings on two surfaces of each pane of glass were carefully reviewed to ensure privacy, yet allow daylight in during the day and provide privacy at night.

11. All toilet facilities within the AAC are Gender Neutral. There are 46 stools within the facility, and no urinals.

Auditorium and Stage

12. The auditorium seats 750 patrons. There are three adjusted seat widths to ensure optimal sightlines to the stage. Each seat sightline was able to be viewed in virtual reality prior to the start of construction using Oculus 3-D Goggles.
13. The auditorium acoustics are improved with the use of 147 sound deflecting ceiling panels, sound-absorbing wall panels, and sound-deflecting wall panels.
14. The auditorium lighting controls are endlessly adjustable with preset settings, and can be controlled within the booth, or by the stage manager’s smart phone as a spectator within the audience.
15. The lighting bridge above the auditorium seating is hidden by the sound reflective panels. The lighting bridge is 30 feet above the aisle in the middle of the auditorium seating.

Band and Choir Rooms

16. There are three smaller practice rooms within the band and choir suite. Lined with sound deadening panels and extra insulated sound deadening glass, these rooms are able to capture sound within and make it difficult to hear you from the spaces adjacent to you.

17. The band and choir rooms are equipped with a special ceiling tile that prevents sound from reverberating back and creating echoes within the room.

18. The instrument storage at the perimeter of the room is not only lockers for instru-ments, but also acts as sound absorbing devices to prevent sharp reverberation returning to the ear as echoes.

Stagecraft

19. There are two large overhead coiling doors that allow tall scenery to be built in the stagecraft room and rolled onto the stage of the auditorium.

20. The cabinets in stagecraft were specified as ‘unfinished’ (not painted or stained) so that the student scene-painters could paint the cabinets with their own artistic flare, again, and again with each high school production.

21. The Stagecraft director may have the best parking space of any high school staff member during inclement weather. The exterior garage door is intended to bring raw lumber in and stored on the industrial material shelving.

Fitness

22. Many fitness rooms on high school campuses are hard to find, and hidden behind closed doors. We wanted to have our students and athletes identify with this facility in the center of campus, so we included large exterior windows, allowing them to see Sylvester Stadium and the tennis courts while they train.

23. The floor material within the fitness room is high impact resistant rubber, and cus-tom tailored for our school’s branding.

24. The weight room equipment is arranged to help facilitate team sports, and encour-age team unity.

CARMI Design Group specializes in educational architectural design – but we do so much more. See the work we perform, and connect with our team.