College-Conservatory of Music
Cincinnati
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners transforms the College-Conservatory of Music

© Timothy Hursley

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By William Weathersby, Jr.

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners was charged with a bold, complicated overhaul: upgrade the aging facilities and more than double the existing floor area of the College-Conservatory of Music. Conservative university budgets and the constricted site ruled out a total teardown of most buildings to achieve a clean slate for new construction, so the architects had to imaginatively salvage at least some of the existing facilities. Administrators also wanted the conservatory to evolve as a village-like plan threaded with gathering places to support the creative community. A final challenge: construction would be phased in six stages over seven years so that classes and performances would not be interrupted.

The architects decided that existing performance and related support spaces could be retained and renovated, while the classroom wing would be razed and replaced. Two adjacent buildings—an abandoned gym and outmoded dorm— were drafted as sites for a student union and a vocal arts center. These strategic choices made it possible to shape the new academic wing so that it framed a courtyard. Formerly a knot of asphalt streets, the brick-paved piazza now serves as the spatial focus of the buildings, both new and old.

The college’s venues now include a renovated 750-seat proscenium theater, an existing 400-seat thrust stage, a new 300-seat recital hall and 200-seat studio theater, and a 100-seat master classroom. New and reconfigured rehearsal spaces in multiple buildings support musical, dance, and theater performances. Rehabbed dorm rooms were particularly well suited for new roles as practice pods.

With maturing landscaping, public sculpture, and planned pedestrian bridges that soon will connect the conservatory complex to the center of campus, the nuances of the composition are enriched with each school season.

See the July 2001 issue of Architectural Record for full coverage of this project.

Formal name of building:
College-Conservatory of Music,
University of Cincinnati

Location:
Cincinnati

Gross square footage:
634,150 sq. ft.

Owner:
University of Cincinnati

Architect's firm:
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
www.pcfandp.com