Opening its doors with a flourish
Despite postponement due to a lengthy coronavirus pandemic, Diamond Bar High School’s new music building has recently completed the transition to opening its doors.
Based on an estimate given by district construction accounting budget analyst Pamela Huang last March, the three-story complex had cost $9,050,526.94.
“We got 99% of it just nailed because we were kept involved,” music director Steve Acciani said. “We had a lot of student input and we had our professionals. We also hired a consultant to come and set up our recording studios.”
The first floor of the building will be used as a band rehearsal hall and as storage for instruments and Colorguard equipment. The room measures 30-feet tall and was designed with Colorguard’s rehearsals in mind. There is also a uniform room, parent booster room and a percussion studio.
The Performing Arts program was one of two DBHS sectors to have been chosen for remodeling. Initially having been predicted to finish before the start of quarantine, construction was postponed due to COVID-19 and its subsequent resource shortage. Students were then told the building would be finished by the end of 2021, but was delayed again to the end of 2022’s spring season. These extensions resulted in more eyes on the project which gave the music department the ability to restructure the layout during the construction process.
“Some of the delays were caused by us wanting to make changes,” Acciani said. “For us, it was more important to make sure we got it right. You have one time to get a building right.”
Meanwhile, the second level will include a listening room, two recording studios, teacher offices and the music department’s library. The listening room will include a Dolby Atmos system, a 24-channel mixer, $90,000’s worth of speakers, $60,000’s worth of microphones and will be Dante-enabled, allowing for audio to be recorded and transmitted via ethernet with zero latency.
“We could have people recording in the band room and the two practice studios at the same time, run it through the sound booth and send it to the theater stage,” Acciani said. “This allows us to perform with theater together in real-time.”
The third floor will consist of percussion storage, a piano room, practice rooms and a performing-arts academy office.
“We had a great vision for it, and it far exceeded our vision from a looks standpoint, from a functionality standpoint and from an acoustic standpoint,” Acciani said. “It is exactly what we hoped it would be and what we think our kids deserve.”
The old band room’s new purpose is still being discussed internally. According to Acciani, it will become a new multi-purpose space to replace the Golden Horseshoe.
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