Penn State School of Music students will get rehearsal space and a recital hall befitting their talents.
The Board of Trustees on Committee on Finance, Business and Capital Planning on Thursday recommended final plans and funding for a $25.5 million addition of a new recital hall and renovation of the existing Esber Recital Hall. The full board will vote on the project at its meeting on Friday afternoon. [Update: The project was approved by the full board.]
Ford Stryker, assistant vice president for physical plant, told the committee that the School of Music lacks appropriate recital space and rehearsal space for large ensembles. Esber has substandard acoustics and its aging mechanical systems create excessive noise. Existing rehearsal spaces, meanwhile, are too small and also have acoustical issues.
Plans call for an addition of a 400-seat recital hall on the east side of Music Building I, near the Forum, with Esber renovated into a large ensemble rehearsal space.
Stryker explained that the new hall would have ‘vineyard seating,’ with the audience surrounding musicians for a more intimate performance and producing high-quality acoustics.
Land development plans for the project were approved by State College Borough Council earlier this year.
The project also will replace the building’s HVAC system, improve performer preparation areas and add new ticket and lobby space. Outdoor gathering spaces and new landscaping and sidewalks will be added on the exterior.
The School of Music, part of the College of Arts and Architecture, has 325 students currently enrolled as music majors and an additional 2,000 students from other majors enrolled in music courses.
“We are thrilled to begin this much-needed renovation and construction project that will improve and expand facilities for our talented students and world-class faculty in the School of Music,” said Barbara Korner, dean of the College of Arts and Architecture, in a statement. “This project will not only provide additional space for performances and rehearsals, but ensure those spaces have appropriate acoustics for musicians and audience members alike. These new facilities will better reflect the quality of the School of Music’s excellent programs, students and faculty.”
Final plans for the project were designed by Bostwick Design Partnership of Cleveland. Stryker said funding will come from the commonwealth and capital reserves.
Benner Township ARL Facility
The committee also recommended approval of the appointment of an architect for a new facility on Fox Hill Road in Benner Township to consolidate the Applied Research Laboratory Energy Science and Power Systems personnel and resources.
Hoffman Leakey Architects of Boalsburg will design the 8,000 square-foot building, which will be constructed next to an existing facility at the ARL test site.
‘The building will have three concrete test cells, three control rooms,three specialty workshops, a large assembly room, two restrooms, a storage room, and a mezzanine for equipment,’ according to the board agenda. ‘It will share the domestic water, sanitary, smoke evacuation, and emergency power systems with the existing building. The power system will come from an upgraded service transformer.’
The total project cost is $6 million.
[Update: The project was approved by the full board]
MNMC Land Swap
Penn State will exchange .52 acres of land for a 2.60-acre parcel owned by Mount Nittany Medical Center in the medical campus zoning district. The exchange will allow the medical center to build the first of two new side-by-side parking decks to the west of the hospital campus.
[Update: The exchange was approved by the full board]
Appropriation Request Update
Zack Moore, vice president for government and community relations, said that Penn State still appears to be in good shape to receive level funding in its state appropriation for 2017-18. And that’s good news.
Pennsylvania appears to be facing a budget shortfall of more than $3 billion between this year and next year. Gov. Tom Wolf and legislators, however, have indicated that the university is likely to receive the same funding — $315 million — it got for 2016-17.
‘Level funding is a pretty good scenario to be at right now,’ Moore said.
