SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April 27, 2000) The dazzling new Hayden Planetarium in New York features key elements of lighting, sound, staging, and technical system design created by the theatre consulting firm of Auerbach + Associates, San Francisco and New York, and Auerbach + Glasow, the architectural lighting design division of Auerbach + Associates. The Hayden Planetarium is part of the centerpiece of the spectacular new Rose Center for Earth & Space at the American Museum of Natural History.

The firm assisted Polshek Partnership Architects, the architect for the new Rose Center for Earth and Space with the seating configuration, sight lines, and staging elements in the Hayden Planetarium's Space Theater. Auerbach + Associates designed the technical systems for the support of the Space Show, including the lifting platform for the one-of-a-kind Zeiss Mark IX Star Projector, the most modern star and planet projector in existence. Through fiber optics, the projector accurately depicts stars, the sun and the planets, and can be programmed to display the sky as seen from any planet in the solar system.

Auerbach + Associates designed the dynamic audio system that broadcasts the virtual reality Space Show within the Planetarium dome and also carries sound into the pre-show area. The cutting-edge sound system brings a 3-D experience to the listener through technologically advanced spatial sound.

The domed ceiling of the Planetarium is illuminated by a theatrical-architectural lighting system created by Auerbach + Glasow. The system allows the dome to be toned in a multitude of hues, and provides the general illumination (house lighting) for the space.

The Hayden Planetarium is an example of a building that completely integrates an elegant architectural form within the service of a scientific and educational function, said S. Leonard Auerbach, President of Auerbach + Associates, and principal in charge of the project. “It gave us an opportunity to solve interesting theatrical design challenges within the Planetarium's theater, as well as to apply advanced technology in the creation of spectacular theatrical effects. The final effect, by show producers Batwin & Robin, is amazing, nothing like the kind of experience one normally expects to find on a trip to a planetarium.”

In addition to Len Auerbach, other Auerbach + Associates principals who worked on the project include Steve Friedlander, Principal in Charge of the New York office, and Paul Garrity, Principal in Charge of Sound Design. Larry French of Auerbach + Glasow served as Principal in Charge of Lighting Design.

The Hayden Planetarium, called the most technologically advanced planetarium in the world, is the centerpiece of the new $210 million Rose Center for Earth and Space. This 333,500 square-foot exhibition and research facility also includes the Cullman Hall of the Universe, the Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway and the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth. The Rose Center was designed by the Polshek Partnership Architects. The new complex, which includes a new 47,114 square foot public landscaped terrace, a new parking facility and a soon-to-open new entrance at Columbus Avenue, completely transforms the entire north side of the museum, located on West 81st Street across from Central Park on the Upper West Side of New York.

The Hayden Planetarium is the top half of an 87-foot reflective aluminum clad sphere, which perches on a tripod and appears to float within a 95 foot glass cube, whose curtain wall is virtually transparent as it is made of water white glass. Visitors enter the Space Theater across a bridge connection on the third floor. The top half of the sphere contains the Space Theater, which reinvents the idea of a planetarium, becoming a place to tell the story of modern astrophysics. The bottom half of the sphere contains the Big Bang, a show that re-creates the first few moments of the universes history. Adjacent to the sphere on the second floor is the Hall of Planet Earth and beneath the sphere is the Hall of the Universe.

The planetarium's Space Theater seats 429 visitors in a surround configuration. It features a digital dome system that allows visitors to travel through a 3-D universe of digital data sets provided by Nasals Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Hubbell Space Telescope. The Space Theater presents a realtime virtual universe that re-creates the observable universe based on actual astronomical data. One of the most interesting challenges of the theatrical systems design was to convert the Space Theater's traditional surround seating arrangements from a center flat floor area into a center projection platform for the Zeiss projector and other effects systems.

Because of the limited space within the architectural design of the sphere, with the planetarium on the top and exhibit hall underneath, there wasn't much space between the two halves of the sphere to store the Zeiss projector and to build a mounting platform. We had to work within a narrow slice of space between the two levels, Len Auerbach said.

The compact design of the projection platform by Auerbach + Associates allows the electromechanical drive system to be sandwiched in a shallow chamber nestled between the planetarium in the upper half of the sphere and the exhibit hall in the lower half of the sphere.

Auerbach + Associates designed the rise of the platform from beneath the floor with a high speed motorized slipstage, a concealed automated safety railing system, and a precision platform lift. All the platform elements are coordinated with a master show control system.

The lift is a high-precision device designed to move the Zeiss Mark IX to its playing location within a one-millimeter tolerance. Once in place, the platform unit is safely locked and rigidly positioned.
It was a formidable task to coordinate the system on the moving platform,” said Len Auerbach. “It was done in close collaboration with the architect, engineers, and equipment vendors”. The projection and effects system on the lift required power, water and air-cooling, hundreds of copper and fiber optic signal and control cables, and plumbing for special liquid nitrogen fog effects. A system of safety interlocks and pressure switch pads in the floor prevent the system from operating if anyone from the audience moves too close to the machinery.

The 3D spatial sound system designed by Auerbach + Associates allows the listener to be totally enveloped in the excitement of the show, which transports visitors on a five-billion light year tour of the cosmos. Sound seems to come from every direction through multiple speakers in the dome. The system provides multi-channel movement of sound effects and music synchronized to moving projected images.

Auerbach + Associates also created an additional subwoofer loudspeaker system designed to reproduce very low frequencies. The sound system is wired into each seat with an individual bass shaker driver. Each seat shakes to simulate an explosive or high-energy event. The floor under the seats is also fitted with bass shakers. The system provides rumble and effects that make each seat part of the total sound experience.

The sound system consists of a series of full-range speakers mounted in concentric rings above the perforated metal projection dome. There is a primary cluster at the top of the dome, eight channels in a mid-level ring and twelve channels at the dome’s horizon.

The 32-channels of discrete audio are fed by a Level Control Systems (LCS) SuperNova digital audio processing system that is controlled by LCS CueStation software. In addition, a LCS Variable Room Acoustics System (VRAS) has been installed to provide a show designed with an unlimited number of acoustic environments. The audio system enables composers and production sound designers to develop a multi-spatial score that is more than a simple surround, but can seem to emanate spherically, giving a true three-dimensional effect.

The dome is a scrim of light-colored perforated aluminum mounted several feet inside the outer surface of the sphere. The theatrical-architectural lighting system within the dome employs a set of three color theatrical strip lights that illuminate the dome from the horizon point. The light sources are completely out of view from the audience. Additional accent lights define the perimeter wall of the audience area. All lighting is controlled by a theatrical lighting system that is also cued from the master show control system.


AUERBACH GLASOW Press Release