Pennsylvania State University
Recital Hall
Project
Recital Hall
Client
Pennsylvania State University
Location
University Park, PA
Completion
2018
Size
24,500 GSF
Certification
LEED Certified
Category
Renovations + Additions, The Arts
Partner Firm
Botswick Design Partnership
The Recital Hall addition to the School of Music is the first building as part of Penn State's Arts Master Plan, which envisions a future quad connecting Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, and Architecture. The building opens the School of Music to the campus and the College of Arts and Architecture buildings that surround the site through a new lobby and forty-foot tall double-skin curtainwall that acoustically isolates the Recital Hall from bus traffic along nearby Curtin Road. A new terraced outdoor space connects the front door of the School with the front of the adjacent Theater Building and provides a place for students and faculty of each department to interact.
On the interior, the shape of the hall invites interaction between the audience and student performers. The first vineyard-style recital hall at this scale, the room is organized with audience seating circling the stage on four sides, maximizing intimacy (no seat in this 410-seat hall is more than 8 rows from the stage). Seating around and behind the stage is decidedly low, providing students in the audience with a perspective of a performer and allowing them to continue to learn what it feels like to be onstage even as they are watching their peer musicians.
One important core value relates to the importance of collaboration. … collaboration between outstanding scholar/artist teachers and students in the exploration of great music is fundamental to the core strengths of the School of Music.
College of Arts and Architecture Masterplan
FROM DESIGN PROCESS TO IN-USE
Immersion: Viewing concert in the existing recital hall
Working in physical model
Translating physical models into digital renderings
Mock-up facade review
Testing: Acoustical tuning session
Performance: The recital hall sees full performance in a packed house
Awards + Recognition
2022 National AIA Interior Architecture Honor Award
2021 USITT Architecture Honor Award
2020 BSA Design Excellence Citation
2019 AIA New England Design Merit Award
2019 Borough of State College Ingrid P. Holtzman Award
2019 IES Philadelphia Section Illumination Merit Award
Project Consultants
Structural Engineer | LeMessurier Consultants, Inc.
Mechanical / Electrical Engineer | Barton Associates
Civil Engineer | Stahl Sheaffer Engineering
Theater Consultant | NextStage Design
Acoustical Engineer | Talaske
AV Consultant | Talaske
Photographer | Robert Benson