Not so long ago in a valley by the Bay, DPR wrapped up construction on an 8,000-sq.-ft. addition and 18,000-sq.-ft. interior remodel to the existing technical building for Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm Ltd. company located in Nicasio, CA. Blending into the more than 3,000 acres that make up the world-famous Skywalker Ranch, the technical building serves as a post-production sound recording and mixing facility with some of the strictest control requirements in the industry. The exterior, however, bears closer resemblance to a local winery.

“It was George Lucas’s vision to have the original building appear like an old winery,” said Earl Wilson, AIA, associate principal of BAR Architects (formerly Backen Arrigoni & Ross), which in 1982 served as the architect for the existing 140,000-sq.-ft. building surrounded by vineyards and backed up against a grassy knoll. “The addition and renovation was truly a wonderful opportunity for BAR to improve upon a significant project that we worked on more than 20 years ago. The vocabulary from the existing building was used to incorporate new technology and new uses into the facility.”

The addition, which was completed in early June of last year—a month ahead of schedule and under budget, included nine new digital sound design rooms, two new digital edit suites and computer machine rooms to support the new space. DPR also renovated several sound mixing studios, an ADR recording studio with control rooms, machine rooms and a new Foley stage, where movie sounds are recorded and synced to film.

Working around sound and recording schedules to ensure that construction did not disrupt studio operations, DPR crews self performed a majority of the work, including demolition, steel installation, roofing, concrete foundations and forming, drywall and rough carpentry, for increased flexibility.

“Building within a fully functioning facility always creates some hurdles, especially when all construction had to conform to sound criteria, and self performing work allowed us to have greater control over schedules and when activities were executed,” said Rory Madden, project manager for DPR. “On some occasions, we stopped work quickly, because we might have created a vibration or made too much noise. And at other times, the Foley recording engineers actually came out and recorded noises from construction to add to the studio’s sound library.”

The new Foley stage presented an immediate challenge. The space needed for the stage required one of the building’s structural concrete columns to be removed, and the replacement structural steel member that spans the stage was too large to bring into the building without clearing a bigger path. To avoid additional demolition, DPR came up with the solution of installing a shotcrete beam, which was sprayed in place and serves the same structural purpose. Time was also saved during the process.

The project also involved sophisticated mechanical and electrical systems to meet the latest digital technology needs, as well as floating floors and isolated ceilings in the mixing rooms to insulate these areas from potential building vibrations caused by the air conditioning system or sprinkler pipes. DPR also conducted an extensive search throughout the state to match the stone and brick exterior of the existing two-story building and installed used brick that matches the original building.

“There are some really wonderful things that occurred with the project,” said Wilson. “We’re accustomed to the way DPR works and that’s one of the reasons why we’re always very excited to be working with DPR. There were regular team meetings that were well organized and well run, and those meetings were a big part of ensuring ongoing collaboration to achieve mutual success.”