Large Rehearsal Space for 160-member band

Marine Band Barracks, Washington, DC

Project Overview

Individual Rehearsal Space

The new U. S. Marine Corps Band Barracks Annex and Band Support Building is sandwiched into the southeast quadrant of Washington D.C. just a few blocks behind the U.S. Capitol building. The Annex houses three separate rehearsal facilities that simulate concert hall acoustics. The largest rehearsal hall will allow the full 160-member band to practice together and offers some seating for special visitors. In addition, there are 14 individual practice rooms to accommodate small groups of musicians. The design-build team of Brennan Beer Gorman Monk Architects & Interiors (Washington, D.C.) and Coakley Williams Construction (Gaithersburg, MD) won the annex assignment in December 2001 after a lengthy contracting process administered by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Henning Associates (Rockville, MD) was the acoustical design engineer, while Acoustical Design Collaborative (Ruxton, MD), served as the band’s own acoustical consultant.

Smaller Rehearsal Space

Between the two firms, no sound was left unanalyzed. For the construction team, achieving the right purity of sound has demanded a level of detail that encompasses every aspect of the project’s mechanical, lighting, flooring and finish requirements. "We spent an amazing amount of time to get this thing right. The acoustical requirements are the number one thing," says Capt. John R. Barclay, Executive Assistant to the Band Director, "Everything else is really icing on the cake."