Robert A M Stern designs pair of performance halls for Ohio State

Architecture studios Robert A M Stern Architects and DLR Group have unveiled a pair of higher education buildings for performing arts at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

New York City-based Robert A M Stern Architects (RAMSA) collaborated with architect of record and performance venue designer DLR Group to create the Timashev Family Music Building and the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts Building, completed in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The buildings comprise 200,000 square feet (18,580 square metres) on The Ohio State University's campus and "share an architectural identity grounded in openness, visibility, and connectivity that make arts activities within these buildings visible to passersby".

"Designed and developed for performing arts education, the buildings' state-of-the-art performance and practice spaces serve Ohio State faculty and students and are equipped to host world-class performers and members of the Columbus community," the team told Dezeen.

Clad in the university's standard red brick and slate grey metal detailing, both buildings were designed to respect the neighbouring buildings in scale, but depart from the immediate context with continuously glazed facades along the western edge.

Inside, double-height lobbies – clad in light wood paneling – serve as light-filled community spaces and large corridors that allow circulation between multiple performance venues.

According to the studios, the spaces have also become popular on-campus locations for study and social gatherings.

The Timashev Family Music Building features a 190-seat recital hall that is acoustically tunable for chamber music, classrooms, offices, a recording studio, a 3,775-square foot (350 square metre) rehearsal hall, and piano repair shop. It also incorporates the renovated 700-seat Weigel Auditorium.

The Department of Theater, Film and Media Arts Building is centered around a 444-seat proscenium theatre and a 202-seat multi-form thrust theatre.

The building also includes a scene shop, studios, editing suites, lighting lab, ticket office and a 4,500-square foot (420 square metre) new media sound stage.

"Careful consideration of acoustics – both sound transmission and reverberation – was essential to the success of both [buildings]," the team said.

"Construction detailing, combined with mechanical systems design were studied intensively to achieve exceptional acoustic performance."

Additionally, a double-window system with high-performance glazing brings light into the performance spaces while reducing acoustic transmission and helping with building performance.

Windows recess into the brick facade to shade the interior spaces and reduce solar heat gain, while a highly reflective roof membrane reduces indoor temperature.

"Both buildings have become important campus pathways bringing members of the Ohio State community into and through the building as they move across the campus," the team said, referencing the transformation of the central-campus site that connects its northern academic district with its expansion areas.

Immediately to the east of the Timashev Family Music Building is the Wexner Center for the Arts, a wedge-shaped building designed by Peter Eisenman in 1989. Its partial brick-clad towers that reference a medieval armory and white space-frame scaffolding are elements of deconstructivism.

The photography is by Francis Dzikowski.

Project credits:

Architect of record, performance venue design, acoustics and theatre technology, MEP, fire protection & structural engineering: DLR Group
Design architect: RAMSA
Landscape architect: Olin
Civil: Konda Nemeth Engineers
Signage: Swath Design

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