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University of Southern Maine Crewe Center for the Arts
University of Southern Maine Crewe Center for the Arts
Portland, ME, United States
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Other Projects by Perkins Eastman
University of Southern Maine Crewe Center for the Arts
Portland, ME, United States
Firm
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2025
SIZE
25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft
BUDGET
$50K - 100K
The design of the University of Southern Maine’s Crewe Center for the Arts is an architectural synthesis of Maine's maritime heritage and the ephemeral nature of music and light. Its two rising interlocked exterior masses are clad in glass, steel, and dynamic, color-shifting metal panels that evoke the "spectral tides," shimmering and changing hue to mirror the fluid, evocative nature of the ocean. As a visitor approaches, the facade itself performs for them, executing a slow, visual glissando.
The central, transparent Gallery spine, expressed as a commanding vertical beacon, cuts longitudinally through the two wings, serving as a luminous public artery and exhibition space. This axis is supported by exposed Glulam timber trusses, which act as the "shipwright's bones," a rhythmic, structural ode to the region’s shipbuilding tradition. Ultimately, the Crewe Center is more than a building; it is a threshold, between city and campus, performer and audience, silence and sound.
The key spaces in the Center are the 200-seat Performance Hall, the Arts Lab, large rehearsal hall, flex studio for arts and bookmaking, teaching studios, classrooms, and administrative offices. The views into the Performance Hall from the city of Portland establish the hall as the jewel of USM Portland campus. While primarily designed for music, the 200-seat Performance Hall also has theatrical capabilities. Acoustic draperies are deployed on all the room’s walls to provide acoustic variability for a variety of performances. A wooden glulam structure at the side walls in front of the drapery flows up into the ceiling to span the audience and stage, the architecture and materiality of the hall referencing the forests of Maine and the wooden star-shaped reflectors, its starry skies. The asymmetrical seating plan offers a variety of viewpoints and adds visual interest.
With telescoping seating for 75, the Arts Lab has a variety of functions but is primarily used for a music rehearsal and teaching space. It’s also able to accommodate dance rehearsals, with its sprung floor, and small theatrical productions, and acts as an extension of the gallery, through an oversized, motorized acoustic skydoor. The north wall’s large pop-out of glazing allows views to the campus and into the Arts Lab from outside.
The Center for the Arts (CFA) will be the new home of the Osher School of Music, named for the late Dorothy “Suzi” Osher, whose $10 million donation, USM’s largest to date, jump started the project. Music legends Dan Crewe and his late brother Bob—the building’s namesakes—contributed another $6 million to add to the public and private funds generated for the project. To further bolster the ranking of its music program, USM is now the first higher education institution to be recognized as All-Steinway Institution in Maine, a rare status—requiring that 90% of the program’s pianos be Steinway—for a regional public university.
The design also prioritizes sustainability, targeting LEED Gold certification, with energy efficiency systems for heating/cooling air, a lighting control system using occupancy/vacancy sensors and photocells, and exterior pathway and site lighting, designed to emit zero uplight to reduce light pollution.
Designed by Pfeiffer Partners Architects prior to merging with Perkins Eastman
The central, transparent Gallery spine, expressed as a commanding vertical beacon, cuts longitudinally through the two wings, serving as a luminous public artery and exhibition space. This axis is supported by exposed Glulam timber trusses, which act as the "shipwright's bones," a rhythmic, structural ode to the region’s shipbuilding tradition. Ultimately, the Crewe Center is more than a building; it is a threshold, between city and campus, performer and audience, silence and sound.
The key spaces in the Center are the 200-seat Performance Hall, the Arts Lab, large rehearsal hall, flex studio for arts and bookmaking, teaching studios, classrooms, and administrative offices. The views into the Performance Hall from the city of Portland establish the hall as the jewel of USM Portland campus. While primarily designed for music, the 200-seat Performance Hall also has theatrical capabilities. Acoustic draperies are deployed on all the room’s walls to provide acoustic variability for a variety of performances. A wooden glulam structure at the side walls in front of the drapery flows up into the ceiling to span the audience and stage, the architecture and materiality of the hall referencing the forests of Maine and the wooden star-shaped reflectors, its starry skies. The asymmetrical seating plan offers a variety of viewpoints and adds visual interest.
With telescoping seating for 75, the Arts Lab has a variety of functions but is primarily used for a music rehearsal and teaching space. It’s also able to accommodate dance rehearsals, with its sprung floor, and small theatrical productions, and acts as an extension of the gallery, through an oversized, motorized acoustic skydoor. The north wall’s large pop-out of glazing allows views to the campus and into the Arts Lab from outside.
The Center for the Arts (CFA) will be the new home of the Osher School of Music, named for the late Dorothy “Suzi” Osher, whose $10 million donation, USM’s largest to date, jump started the project. Music legends Dan Crewe and his late brother Bob—the building’s namesakes—contributed another $6 million to add to the public and private funds generated for the project. To further bolster the ranking of its music program, USM is now the first higher education institution to be recognized as All-Steinway Institution in Maine, a rare status—requiring that 90% of the program’s pianos be Steinway—for a regional public university.
The design also prioritizes sustainability, targeting LEED Gold certification, with energy efficiency systems for heating/cooling air, a lighting control system using occupancy/vacancy sensors and photocells, and exterior pathway and site lighting, designed to emit zero uplight to reduce light pollution.
Designed by Pfeiffer Partners Architects prior to merging with Perkins Eastman
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