Langley Community Music School , 1999
Recital Hall capacity planning


The Langley Community Music School has been serving its constituents in ad hoc buildings since 1969. In 1998 the School undertook a strategic planning exercise to determine what facilities would be needed to meet anticipated future requirements. High on the list was the need for a recital hall. Three things were not clear; who else in the community might use the Hall, how should it be equipped and configured, and what seating capacity should it have (the notion was that 150 seats should suffice). In the spring of 1999 Lamont Management was engaged to recommend answers to these questions.

More than a dozen potential users were interviewed - performance, community and business groups - in the Langley area and on-site visits were made to a number of facilities currently serving these groups and their activities. The School's requirements were assessed. Considered through the lens of Lamont Management's experience, this information led to the establishment of a set of operating principles for the Hall and the formulation of a number of recommendations designed to ensure the acoustical excellence of the room, flexibility of use, safety and comfort for performers, users and audiences and finally, the suggestion that the capacity of the room be as close to 200 seats as the construction budget would allow.

A year after the completion of Lamont's work, the Langley Community Music School announced that it was going ahead with its facility development program, including a new Recital Hall of 210 seats. The hall opened May 5, 2001.