News Archives
Pfeiffer to Renovate & Expand Prince George Community College Queen Anne Academic Center
January 15, 2014
Pfeiffer is working with Prince George Community College on the renovation and expansion of the 1967 Queen Anne Fine Arts Center, including the Hallam Theatre. Centrally located on campus, the revived center will transform the arts community, providing a welcoming gateway for visitors and students alike. The scope of the project includes the renovation of 33,460 sf of the existing building and a 136,500-sf expansion to provide dramatically improved spaces for the current Music, Theatre, Speech, Television, Radio, and Film programs, along with facilities to support a new dance program. Beyond standard offices and classrooms, the Queen Anne Academic Center will feature a 250-seat proscenium theater, 200-seat black box studio, 125-seat recital hall, various technology and film production labs, flexible instruction and rehearsal spaces, dance studios, and an art gallery.
SUNY Potsdam Performing Arts Center Opens
April 25, 2014
SUNY Potsdam celebrated the grand opening of the college's $55 million Performing Arts Center with a special ribbon cutting ceremony on April 25, 2014. The LEED Silver-certified Performing Arts Center is home to SUNY Potsdam's acclaimed Department of Theatre and Dance, providing three new venues for performances. This will be the first academic building to be constructed on the campus since 1973.
The 97,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility includes a variety of performance spaces, including a 350-seat proscenium theater, a 100-seat black box theater, and a 4,000 square-foot dance performance space with flexible seating on telescopic risers. Additional building components include a public lobby, cafe, two large studios, a physical conditioning room, recording studio, a scene/costume shop, and performer support spaces, including dressing rooms and a green room. The new building also houses classrooms, design labs, faculty offices, and student organization spaces. Located adjacent to the campus' well-known Crane Music Complex, the building not only compliments the existing structures but most importantly fosters interaction--bringing together theater, dance, and music to create a truly collaborative and flourishing community of the arts.
University of Southern California's Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center Breaks Ground
April 23, 2014
Ground was broken this afternoon for the new Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center on the University of Southern California campus. Named for the donor, philanthropist Glorya Kaufman, the Center will be a world-class home for dance education on the West Coast and the Pacific Rim. The endowment will fund the building and establish a bachelor of fine arts program combining dance instruction with business training and a liberal arts education.
Pfeiffer Partners is designing the building for the school, the first new school on the campus in 40 years, beginning with a concept design, a feasibility study and programming. The design team, USC faculty and leadership of the new school are working together to craft a new facility that physically and aesthetically connects to the rest of campus and reflects the University’s master plan goals and aspirations for the new school. The program for the three-story building will include a dance/performance studio, five dance studios, instructional classrooms, performer support spaces, costume storage, and faculty and administrative offices. The project also includes a significant outdoor courtyard in which the campus community can meet, interact and study in an environment that fosters creativity and innovation in teaching and dance.
Pfeiffer Partners Completes 12-Year UCLA Northwest Campus Infill Project
October 26, 2013
The opening of the Sproul Carnesale dining and conference center marks the completion of the three-phased, 500,000+ gsf housing infill project on UCLA’s Northwest Campus–a collaboration with Kieran Timberlake. The first two residential towers, Holly and Gardenia, opened for occupancy in February 2012, with Sproul Landing and Cove residence halls following in the summer of 2013. Together the four new residence halls add 1,525 beds in the four new residential halls, as well as a 650-seat dining commons, meeting rooms and and a fitness center–this most recent phase culminating for Pfeiffer Partners over a decade of master planning and designing student life facilities on UCLA’s Northwest Campus. The result is seven new residence halls, an additional 3,500 beds, the renovation of public areas and exteriors of four exisiting residential halls, three new dining facilities, a host of student amenities, and a landscape environment that enhances students’ residential overall experience
Duke University’s Renovated and Expanded Historic Baldwin Hall Opens
August 8, 2013
Duke University’s historic Baldwin Auditorium opened August 1, 2013, after being closed for extensive renovation and expansion executed by Pfeiffer Partners Architects. Constructed in 1927, the classically Georgian Baldwin Auditorium sits as the focal point of the University’s East Campus Quad. The Quad and its architecture were modeled after Jefferson’s University of Virginia, and Baldwin, as the “equivalent” of the library, is considered a campus icon. The interior had a modestly scaled lobby with few amenities and an auditorium visually dominated by a very large central dome sitting on pilastered pendentives. During its history, the building has served as a chapel, classroom, lecture, rehearsal and concert hall. In spite of a growing list of deficiencies, the auditorium was used by the Music Department for rehearsals and concerts by large ensembles, and the Duke Symphony and wind orchestras. The Duke Chorale, Jazz Ensemble, opera workshop and special events by visiting artists and ensembles also utilized the auditorium during the academic year.
Historic Atascadero City Hall Reopens
August 2, 2013
Almost ten years after commencement of work, the rehabilitation of the City of Atascadero’s historical City Hall is complete, just in time for the City’s centennial. Once the crown jewel of publisher E.G. Lewis’ utopian community, the 45,000-square-foot building was severely damaged in the 2003 San Simeon earthquake, causing it to be red tagged and vacated. Pfeiffer Partners, under Principal Stephanie Kingsnorth’s direction, led a team that assessed and documented the extensive damage to the City Hall building, aided in securing funds from FEMA, CALEMA (formerly OES), and the California Cultural Heritage Endowment (CCHE), rehabilitated the entire structure including rebuilding structural and mechanical systems, fire protection and the exterior envelope, and brought it all up to code, restoring it to full operation and enhancing the historic character of the building
Pfeiffer Partners Selected for USC Glorya Kaufman International Center for Dance
December 5, 2012
The University of Southern California selected Pfeiffer Partners to design its new 62,000-sf Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, beginning with concept design, a feasibility study and programming. The project, which will establish a world-class home for dance education on the West Coast and the Pacific Rim, includes a black box studio theater, instructional classrooms, dance studios, performer support spaces, faculty and administrative offices, and a significant outdoor courtyard in which the campus community can meet, interact and study in an environment that fosters creativity and innovation in teaching and dance. The Center, which is prominently located near the Thornton School of Music, is positioned to enhance the university’s role as one of the city’s cultural leaders and to create a recognizable anchor for an emerging arts quadrant.
Ground Broken for Chapman University’s Musco Center for the Arts
September 7, 2012
Ground was broken Thursday, September 6, 2012, for Chapman University’s Musco Center for the Arts.
Named for donors Paul and Marybelle Musco, the 83,000-sf Center features a 1,050-seat theater, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for the conservatory of music, and the departments of theatre and dance of the University’s College of Performing Arts. The center will serve as a world-class performing arts center and education facility, as well as a cultural destination for the Orange community and surrounding region.
Observing historic Old Towne Orange’s building height restrictions, the three-story center will rise 55 feet from the ground, with half the building constructed underground, assuring finely tuned acoustics, designed by noted acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota.
In attendance at the ceremony were S. Paul and Marybelle Musco, who have lent their name to the Center, Chapman President James L. Doti, College of Performing Arts Dean William Hall, and Placido Domingo, Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Opera and world-famous tenor. Completion of the project is scheduled for 2015.
Seattle University Lemieux Library Designated a New Landmark Library by Library Journal
July 2, 2012
Seattle University Lemieux Library & McGoldrick Learning Commons has been designated a New Landmark Library by Library Journal, the most widely read periodical in the library profession. Recognized for its powerful blend of architecture, design and services, the Library was one of just five in the nation to receive the honor. Library Journal introduced the New Landmark Libraries project in 2011 to identify trendsetting library buildings across the country. The criteria are overall design and construction excellence, response to community context and constraints, sustainability, functionality, innovation, and beauty and delight. Submissions were solicited for academic libraries completed between 2007 and 2022, including new construction, expansions, and major renovations. In addition to being a major renovation of the 93,0000-sf existing library, the SU Library project created a new 33,000-sf “front door” addition, which includes 24/7 study areas, “smart” interactive classrooms, a flexible instruction room, a café, and five reading rooms.
CUNY/Brooklyn College’s Leonard & Claire Center for the Performing Arts Breaks Ground
May 13, 2011
Ground breaking for the new Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College will be celebrated on Friday, May 13, 2011. Designed by the NY office of Pfeiffer Partners Architects, the 62,000-gsf Center significantly enhances the performance, instructional and rehearsal opportunities at the College for the Conservatory of Music and Theater Department. A 225-seat hall with variable acoustics is featured, along with large rehearsal halls for music and theater, both of which double as performance spaces. Also included are a room for choral rehearsal, a recording studio, the Pima Center for Computer Music, 30 music studios/practice rooms and a scene shop. The lobby of the new Center forms the interface between the campus and the community. With its transparent glass curtain wall, the building transmits the energy and vitality of the arts within, creating a welcoming edge to the College along Campus Road. With its 30′-high open portal, the Center provides an almost monumental gateway for pedestrians entering the College. The ceiling and lighting of the lobby appear to extend into the portal, making the gateway as welcoming in the evening as it is in the daytime. A 70′-high stair tower and taller triangularly shaped sign, lit from within, announces Brooklyn College to the community at large.
SUNY Potsdam Performing Arts Building Breaks Ground
April 29, 2011
The 92,000-sf Performing Arts Building at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam breaks ground Friday, April 29, 2011. Attending the event will be members of the College community, elected officials, representatives from Pfeiffer Partners Architects, who designed the building, and Northland Associates Inc., who will construct it. The first new academic building to be constructed on the SUNY Potsdam campus since 1973, the Performing Arts Building features 97,000 sf of theater and dance space, supporting the College's acclaimed departments of Theater and Dance.
Located adjacent to the campus' Crane Music Complex, the new building complements the existing architecture of the music buildings, yet establishes its own image and identity, enhancing the visibility of the Arts on campus. Connections between the new building and the Crane School of Music not only provide ease of movement between the two buildings but—more importantly—foster interaction among the various artistic disciplines. The design, with its "fractured" profile, allowing the creation of a series of clerestories to draw light into the building, was inspired by the varied landscape of the Adirondacks, with its the geologic rock formations and stone outcroppings, the beauty of the St. Lawrence River, and the shear-faced walls of the Ausable Gorge.
Florida Gulf Coast University Music Education and Performance Building Opens
August 10, 2010
Florida Gulf Coast University's Arts new Music Education & Performance Building has opened. The 24,500-gsf facility is the first of the three-phased project, master planned by Pfeiffer Partners, that will provide facilities for both the Bower School of Music and the Visual and Performing Arts. Primarily focused on spaces for the music program, the new Phase I facility includes a 200-seat recital/choral hall, a 100-seat rehearsal hall, music studios and classrooms, practice rooms, a music education room and library, a multi-level lobby, faculty studios and offices and associated storage.
Designed to be acoustically perfect, the rehearsal rooms are built on floating floors to prevent sound vibrations from travelling, and the doors of the recital hall have been manufactured specially to prevent any noise from leaking in or out. Every ceiling is sloped and every wall set obliquely to avoid the sound bounce that occurs with parallel walls. The soaring ceiling of the 196-seat recital hall is composed of honey-stained, wood-paneled walls, angled in an origami-like fashion to create peaks and valleys, which cradle sound and gently reverberate it back to the audience.
The LEED Gold-certified building responds to the demands of the Florida climate. The design complements the sloped roof architecture and deep overhangs of the existing campus vernacular, while at the same time distinguishing itself as the gateway to what will eventually become the University's arts precinct in subsequent phasing, as well as a civic destination for the arts community in the surrounding area. The building takes advantage of the site's natural beauty, providing a variety of views out to the adjacent wetlands.
Mount Royal University New Conservatory and Performance Hall Facilities Breaks Ground
April 26, 2011
Mount Royal University's new 92,000-sf (8,500-sm) Conservatory and Performance Hall Facilities breaks ground this spring, making it the first performing arts venue built in Calgary in over a decade. Part of the university's six-phased expansion program to accommodate nearly double the student population at the Lincoln Park campus--currently at 14,000, the center will serve the university's music, theater, speech and childhood community outreach programs. Adjacent to the prominent East Gate campus entrance and the Roderick Mah Centre for Continuous Learning, the multi-tiered building will act as a new gateway for the growing campus. An enclosed link between the two buildings will allow for shared use of the lobby and other public spaces, enhancing potential synergies between the two programs.
The metaphor of the rural barn within the expansive prairie of Alberta served as a contemporary inspiration for choices in materials, structure, and color throughout the project. Within the concert hall itself, the expressed structure echoes heavy timber construction, while the abstracted image of the Alberta Rose is the crowning feature in the design of the acoustical canopy. The five-floor facility is being designed for LEED Gold certification, with orientation and glazing placement that maximizes solar exposure to take advantage of natural lighting. Pfeiffer Partners is working with a steering committee consisting of representatives from the University, Conservatory, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and other stakeholders to balance user needs with available financial resources to create a new center that strengthens and supports the University's role in arts education on campus and throughout the region.
UC Santa Barbara Davidson Library Renovation and Addition Recommences
August 2, 2013
Upon passage of the State budget by the Legislature, in which only five UC projects received funding, Pfeiffer Partners has recommenced the design process by beginning design development for the addition and renewal of the Davidson Library at the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) campus. Pfeiffer Partners began working on the project in 2003 with the preparation of a Detailed Project Program (DPP) and has been working with the University since to get the project through the UC funding cycle. Davidson Library was initially built in 1926 with a first addition constructed in 1952, an eight-story tower addition in 1967 and a four-story addition in 1978. Davidson Library is the University's main library, supporting research collections, digital services and instructional functions, as well as housing a significant special collections department. It serves UCSB's 18,800 students and 1,000 faculty members, in addition to the surrounding community. The new 61,000 gsf addition will house a new information commons on the first two floors with Special Collections occupying the third floor. The renovation portion of the project includes the existing 93,000 gsf north wing, which includes the original 1926 library and the 1952 addition collection. The project is targeting LEED Silver certification for both the renovation and the addition.
SUNY Oswego Tyler Hall Renovation Master Plan Commences
September 19, 2010
Work has begun on Pfeiffer Partners' master plan for SUNY Oswego's Tyler Hall, including development of a space program identifying the needs and priorities of the entire School of Communication, Media and Arts (SCMA). Designed as the Fine Arts Building in 1965, Tyler Hall houses art studios, classrooms, offices, galleries, music practice and performance spaces, and the Waterman Theatre, which is used by students and the community. The master plan will include test-fit diagrams, illustrating how the space program can be accommodated within the existing building, as well as identifying a three-phase approach for overall renovation of the facility. As part of this, the team will also address needed building system upgrades and code deficiencies, necessary improvements to the 525-seat Waterman Theater, along with interior and exterior architectural enhancements to foster the building's identity as a contemporary performing arts and academic facility for the University and broader Oswego community
Westmont College New Academic Buildings Completed
August 30, 2010
Two new academic buildings, Adams Center for the Visual Arts and Winter Hall for Science and Mathematics, have been completed in time for the fall semester--over two months ahead of schedule--at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Pfeiffer Partners was Executive Architect for Phase I of the master plan, encompassing 164,000 sf of new campus facilities, including the new Adams Center and Winter Hall academic buildings. The 31,330-sf, three-level building includes studios with indoor and outdoor work spaces for ceramics, sculpture, crafts and painting; a printmaking studio; a drawing studio; a computer graphics lab; an art photography/frame shop; a climate-controlled art gallery and reception area; an art conference room, collections storage and print review; classroom/lecture space; and faculty studios and offices. The three-level, 46,700-sf Winter Hall houses instructional and research labs, classrooms, and administrative space for the mathematics, computer science, physics and psychology departments, as well as a general 60-seat classroom and 100-seat lecture hall. Built on a sloping site, the building is organized into three pavilions connected by a central atrium space. The top floor features departmental offices and seminar rooms, surrounded by student learning lounges that open to landscaped roofs and walkways. Both projects were designed for LEED Gold certification, with extensive use of natural ventilation and green roofs.
Seattle University Lemieux Library & McGoldrick Learning Commons Dedicated
September 30, 2010
Hundreds attended the formal dedication of the recently completed renovation and expansion of Seattle University's Lemieux Library & McGoldrick Learning Commons, a milestone in the University's 120-year history. The 120,000 sf addition and renovation, which is slated for Gold LEED certification, represents the largest singular investment the University has made to promote academic excellence and scholarship. Designed by Pfeiffer Partners in association with Seattle-based Mithun, the brings the library into the 20th century as the new academic heart of the campus.The addition seamlessly adds a café, digital commons, 24/7 study areas, a range of group study rooms, a fully-equipped media production center, mentoring and research commons, interactive "smart" classrooms, and reading rooms.