Jazz clubs are known for their cozy intimacy, while concert halls convey gravitas. For the first permanent home of SFJAZZ in its 35-year history, organization founder and executive artistic director Randall Kline sought to bridge that dichotomy. 'You get wonderful experiences in 'found' houses that are not intended to be performance spaces, but we also wanted the focus of a concert hall,' he says.
Kline approached San Francisco'based Mark Cavagnero Associates in 2004 to figure out this combination; it would take almost a decade and an anonymous gift of $25 million to realize the $64 million project. Today, the only American building devoted to jazz fully embodies the genre. Like a bossa nova, the exterior features a rhythmic facade layered atop rigorous structure. And, just as a great performance brings listeners together, the 700-seat concert venue fosters community by arranging steeply raked seating around a thrust stage. 'When you're there, you don't see a rear wall'you see people's faces'and no one is more than 45 feet from the stage,' Cavagnero says of this auditorium. 'It highlights the collective experience.'
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