Erin Park
MEDIA DISTRICT WEST -- To accommodate the company's rapid growth
over the past five years, Dolby Laboratories Inc. will move from its
Hollywood office to a larger facility in Burbank in September.
"Right now, we're busting at the gills," said David Gray, vice
president of Hollywood Film Production for Dolby. "There are too many
people in too small a building."
The new facility for the company, which provides sound systems for
movies, high-definition television and DVD, will feature a
state-of-the-art "floating theater, Gray said.
The Larry Umlang Theater will be used for demonstration and testing
purposes and will be isolated from the Dolby offices by layers of
concrete and neoprene rubber. The theater's ceiling will be suspended by
rubber springs.
"Any sound that's in this room stays in this room, and any sound
that's external stays out," Gray said.
The relocation and renovation of the 21,000-square-foot building at
Alameda Avenue and Hollywood Way will cost Dolby $6.5 million.
Over the past six years, the company has operated out of a
7,000-square-foot office space. The Burbank facility will allow the
company to provide more and better service, Gray said.
"It was very difficult to do two things at once at our old office. (In
our new office) we can do three things at once," Gray said.
Dolby teamed up with Los Angeles-based Rothenberg Sawasy Architects to
design the new facility, which will also include more space for hosting
clients and holding screenings.
Gray credited the Burbank Redevelopment Agency with smoothing the way
for the move by working with Dolby to secure permits and checking
structural plans.
"I wasn't surprised that (the city) would be so helpful, but I was
prepared for them to not be," Gray said.
The new building's close proximity to many of Dolby's clients -- major
studios and small independent post-production studios -- will give Dolby
a convenient central location, Gray said.
"For us, Burbank is in the middle of where most of our work is," he
said.
