EMPAC Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer, Troy NY

RPI's ugliest and probably the world's costliest eyesore. $200 million was used for this. More wasteful buildings have been spotted on planet Earth but not by reliable sources.

Visited this unique and gorgeous architectural edifice in June 2019. Stunning geometries and design. Really loved my short time in Troy!

One star for the theatre. It’s beautiful and the acoustics are amazing.

The rest of the building leaves a lot to be desired. We arrived at about 6: 30 for a 7: 00pm show. We parked on 8th street and came in that entrance. On the outside was a sign indicating the direction to an ADA/elevator entrance. Inside we were faced with five flights of stairs. While we are both healthy and active, we are at an age where a lot of stair climbing can be exhausting. In addition, my girlfriend has a bad knee - stairs can be a challenge, although climbing is not as bad as descending. It’s dark and raining. Based on the location of the ADA/elevator directions it seems we’d have to walk outside to another entrance. We chose the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, the only indication as to where to enter the theatre was the young man checking tickets. He was dressed casually, so it took me a moment to see that’s what he was doing.

During intermission, I used the exit at the back of the seating area and started looking for signs to the restrooms. I found myself in a stairway. The floor below opened into what looked like a storage area for instruments. I checked doors all the way down to the 2nd floor - most were locked. I went back up to the first door and followed a hallway around to where a small group of people were. I asked how to get to the restrooms. One woman, clearly annoyed at me, said, “What are you doing back here? You don’t belong back here. ” She did give me directions, saying the restrooms were near the cafe. I followed her directions and came to a sitting area that I assumed was the cafe - it didn’t look like one to me. I did find the restrooms.

Finding my back into the theatre was another challenge. I went around to one door, but stopped to ask a group of people standing near by. They pointed me back in another direction, and as I walked away I heard one of them laugh say that I’d almost walked onto the stage. I never saw a sign saying “stage entrance. ” The letter on the signage was nearly the same color as the doors. The contrast was so poor, especially in the dim light of the cafe, that I could not tell from a distance if it was an entrance or not. And the signage used stage directions. I don’t know stage directions. The closest one said “Orchestra Left. ” That meant nothing to me. It would have helped if there was a placard on the wall with a floor plan so I’d know where I was relative to the stage. Or some people clearly dressed as ushers to direct me. I entered that door and had to work my way through the center seating area to the other side.

The final challenge was exiting the building. Going down the stairs was out of the question. It took us several minutes to find an elevator that would take us back to the 2nd floor for the 8th Street exit. When we got there, we were in a short hallway that looked more like a loading zone. There were no signs to indicate where to exit for 8th Street. We tried a few doors, and finally found one that opened to the same lobby we’d entered at the beginning of the evening. It would have been nice to know that an elevator was so close.

Bottom line: They need to do a lot of work to make it easier for people to find their way around the building.