Photography by Woodruff/Brown.
The existing UCONN School of Fine Arts Music Department, Music Library and Drama Department area totaled 63,000 square feet. The Master Plan study the firm undertook in 1991 concluded that the existing and projected twenty year needs for these departments as well as Art, would require a Phase I scope of 82,000 square feet of new construction.
The design physically links together the distinctive departments of the school and creates a unified image of a “Fine Arts Quadrangle”.
The Orchestra/Band building contains a large orchestra/band rehearsal room, classrooms, practice rooms, studio offices of various sizes and band uniform and instrument storage. Views toward Mirror Lake across Mansfield Road are seen from the two-story reception area at the first level, adjacent to the Orchestra/Band Room.
The new Library building forms the entry point to the Fine Arts Campus and unifies the School of Fine Arts along Storrs Road. The curved two-story first floor lobby maintains the existing diagonal pattern of pedestrian traffic in and out of the south campus and nestles the circular library form between two existing buildings. A bridge at the second level pierces the lobby and connects the building to the adjacent existing Drama/Music and Music buildings to the north and south.
Since the Music/Dramatic Arts library space is totally self-sufficient with its own circulation/elevator core, it can be closed while the remainder of the building is being used. The basement stack capacity will increase substantially with the future conversion of static to compact stack systems. An over generous second floor volume will allow the addition of a third floor as the library grows.
The building also provides a large classroom/rehearsal space, studio offices, recording control room, computer instruction room, and faculty and student lounges.
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