Musco Center for the Arts Commands the Spotlight

ORANGE, Calif. — As Chapman University gears up to offer students a much-awaited curriculum in musical theater, the new Musco Center for the Arts will support the university’s thriving arts programs in a modern premier setting.

Designed by Pfeiffer Partners, based in Los Angeles, and with acoustical design by the world famous Nagata Acoustics, the $64 million center for the arts will provide high-tech support for the broad array of young performance artists while also creating a signature piece of architecture for the distinct school.

“What really defines a campus, in my mind and in the mind of the firm, was the in between spaces on campus,” said Bill Murray, AIA, partner at Pfeiffer Partners. “Really some of the best spaces on campus are what happens between the buildings and the landscape and the art scape.”

Creating a focal point of entry for the new three-story center, the firm convinced the university to create an acre and a half park in front of the building. This creates a major entry piece to the main front doors and the large balcony terrace that overlooks the park, which feature various sculptures of famous composers spanning five centuries, Murray said.

As students and visitors approach the 83,000-square-foot Musco Center, which broke ground in September 2012, they will find a building characteristic of the university’s unique architectural character but with modern appeal. Pfeiffer Partners were charged with utilizing the same brick and cast stone materials typical of other building on campus and were mandated by the city to create buildings no larger than 55 feet. However, with an extensive use of glass and detailing, along with massive columns welcoming visitors to the entry of the building, the new center will stand apart from the rest.

“They’re monolithic,” Murray said of the columns. “They’re as big or bigger than the columns of the Pantheon in Rome.”

A large portion of the building is being built below ground in order to accommodate the height limit set by the city and the needed heights for the 1,100-seat theater and concert hall. Boasting an incredible array of lighting, audio-visual technology and sound design, the new center will also have top acoustical qualities thanks to the design by Yasuhisa Toyota, president of Nagata Acoustics Los Angeles office, Murray said.

“He has very specific requirements for concert halls,” Murray said of Toyota. “Then when you try to marry a theater function to that it becomes that much more complicated.”

The acanthus plant largely inspired the architectural elements of the multipurpose hall.

“I needed to come up with a way to diffuse the sound through the room. So I basically looked at the acanthus plant and began to extract that into an architectural language,” Murray said. “The room is a series of five major acanthus stock in plaster on the walls that then turned into a version of it on the ceiling in open wire mesh, which is transparent to sound.”

Due to the plants compound curves, Murray said, the acoustical qualities of the acanthus will allow sound to diffuse wonderfully in the new space.

“The [acanthus] theme is woven into the details and finishes of the building in the carpets and wall detailing of the lobby itself,” Murray said. “There’s a whole unification of an architectural expression of the acanthus form inside the room.”

The Musco Center for the Arts is due for completion in 2015.