The MU School of Music revealed the architectural design for a new building on Tuesday. Construction at Hitt Street and University Avenue is set to begin in January 2018. It will open in August 2019 according to the project timeline.
The school currently has six buildings spread throughout campus. One of the main reasons why the school needs a new building is the need to consolidate all daily operations. Julia Gaines, the director of the school, said it is critical for students to be around each other so that they can collaborate musically.
“Right now, we are in such complete silos,” Gaines said. “We have a whole faction of faculty, and they don't get to talk with their peers and colleagues so that does drastically inhibit that collaboration.”
The new building will have a recording suite, a traditional rehearsal hall and an outdoor performance venue. In addition to its unique location between MU campus and downtown Columbia, it will offer performing space apart from the Missouri Theatre and Jesse Auditorium to enhance connection between the school and the community according to Gaines.
Kirkegaard Associates is a noise and vibration control consulting firm in Chicago. Its St. Louis branch is working closely with the school and architect BNIM to make sure that the new building has significantly better acoustics.
Brian Corry, a consultant at Kirkegaard Associates and manager of the project, said noise control and sound isolation are the most challenging aspects acoustically.
“The big challenge is getting all those individual spaces to work next to each other and allow simultaneous use, where you have a trumpet in one room and a flute in the other,” Corry said.
Twenty-four million dollars have been committed for Phase One of the project, including $10 million donated by Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield, which is the largest gift ever to MU to support the fine arts. However, the school needs an additional $20 million to ensure that the two construction phases can move forward at the same time.