RAFI served as the architect for the 450-seat capacity Chaparral Theatre Addition. The 14,679 square foot theatre is located on the north side of the existing two-story main building along Annie Oakley Drive. The location of the building is the first phase of the redevelopment based on the Chaparral Master Redevelopment Plan that was completed by RAFI on 2002.
Designing this theatre was a design challenge to RAFI due to the noise emitted from the adjacent freeway and aircraft overhead, including helicopters used for policing and traffic reports create high noise levels that must be greatly reduced for the facility to properly function. RAFI provided a Noise Reduction Strategy, which provides the District with a facility that is more than 100% better for the exterior walls and 300% better for the roof in terms of noise reduction over the current designs for the steel-framed structures. The exterior masonry walls, plus some added value for foam insulation, interior gypsum board and acoustic blankets, throughout the non-public areas of the theatre functions reduces the sound absorption to 0.06.
The built-up roofing with 6” insulation plus an additional of (4) layers gypsum board has a sound absorption coefficient of 0.31. Air-cooled package units were used to address the Schools long term energy savings goal.