New Recital Hall

Location
State College PA

Institution
Pennsylvania State University

Design Architect
William Rawn Associates

Executive Architect
Bostwick Design Partnership

Acoustician
Talaske

Construction Manager
PJ Dick

The world’s first vineyard style recital hall is at Penn State’s School of Music, and it sounds marvelous. Nextstage Design provided theater planning and equipment design. The engaging hall supports a 50-piece orchestra and 415 patrons, none of whom are more than 36 feet from the concert platform. Retractable banners allow adjustment of the room acoustics to suit the repertoire, and an LED lighting system provides extensive capability to alter the visual environment. The new hall is an addition to the 1960s-era Music Building I. The existing recital hall within Music I was backfilled with an orchestra rehearsal room, support spaces, and new mechanical equipment servicing both the new and existing buildings.

Construction Type
New construction
Renovation

Square Feet
13,390 new
11,440 renovated

Cost
$25.5 million

Completion
2018

Users
School of Music

Spaces
415-seat recital hall
3,200-square-foot ensemble rehearsal room

Photography © Robert Benson Photography