Behind the Project: Cincinnati Music Hall

Perspective – Oct 2024

Schuler Shook provided Theatre Planning and Architectural Lighting Design services for a significant renovation of the 1878 Cincinnati Music Hall.

The Music Hall serves as the primary home of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Opera, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. The Cincinnati Ballet and many other groups.

One of the many design challenges for the renovation was reducing the acoustic volume of the hall while preserving as much architectural character and as many seats as possible. The design team elected to add new auditorium walls under the balcony and under the gallery seating levels, eliminating several of the back rows that were deeply “shadowed” by the overhanging balcony or gallery above.

TPLD Cincinnati Music Hall CMH Auditorium Color Plan

A floor plan of the hall shows the spatial adjustments made during the renovation.

The red lines indicate the original orchestra level walls, while the green lines represent the new walls for the reduced footprint. The blue areas are new auditorium vestibules, the orange area is a new lounge accessed from the lobby, and the purple marks new storage areas.

The knee walls that defined the shape of the balcony and gallery, located at the front rows of those levels, are historically significant and needed to remain in place. And of course, the lobby floor levels surrounding the auditorium were also fixed, so the elevations of the front rows and last rows on all three seating levels could not change, while the number of rows and depths of those rows in between all had to be revised.

What resulted were fewer rows at every seating level, with greater leg room and increased riser heights. This provided more comfort and better sightlines, but the geometries of these curved seating areas and their new aisles were anything but simple.

The orchestra, balcony, and gallery floors were all demolished, exposing the timber trusses that supported the balcony and gallery seating.

The decorative plaster knee walls were carefully protected at the face of the balcony and gallery, and new steel reinforcement was bolted to the original timbers. New seating tiers were framed over the balcony and gallery trusses, while new suspended concrete slabs were poured at the orchestra level.

New seating tiers were framed over the balcony and gallery trusses, while new suspended concrete slabs were poured at the orchestra level.

The result is a room that looks like a brighter, refreshed version of the Music Hall that audiences remembered prior to the renovation. However, the orchestra level in particular feels more intimate, and all levels enjoy more leg room and greatly improved sightlines. Extending the stage apron and shifting the symphony closer to the audience, combined with an overall reduction in room volume, has transformed the acoustic character of the hall to the benefit of the audience and the musicians. The original structure was built in 1878 and has had several major renovations. We hope that the work completed in 2017 will allow Cincinnati Music Hall to serve the artists and community for many more decades.