The New England Conservatory located in Boston, MA, honored its 150th anniversary in 2017 with the opening of the Student Life and Performance Center, a building that needed to provide practice spaces, performance facilities, and student housing all under one roof. It was important that this new building – the first for the Conservatory in 60 years – have a unique identity and express architectural creativity and innovation.
The Student Life and Performance Center holds more than 250 residential units, in addition to orchestra and jazz rehearsal rooms, a black box opera workshop, the New England Conservatory library, 250 student rooms, a dining commons, and spaces for collaboration and gathering. The building’s façade was designed to convey the Conservatory’s commitment to both contemporary thought and tradition. This was achieved with a terra cotta rainscreen, staggered windows, and a 40-foot tall perforated metal screen, which acts as a curtain, allowing for glimpses of the performance spaces and the activity within.
The design team — a collaborative effort between Ann Beha and Gensler — specified CENTRIA’s EcoScreen® perforated metal panels to help distinguish the curved form of the exterior performance screen feature from the rest of the building. Visually, it adds a shimmering, veil-like element to the structure. These panels are constructed through a unique fabrication process that utilizes 20 gauge stainless steel and 0.040" painted aluminum. The result is a 10%-40% open area that provides an airy aesthetic and controls light and air movement, while elegantly blending industrial and other applications with their surroundings.
In this application, EcoScreen enables the performance screen to also be functional, as it helps diffuse street noise coming into the structure, and allows southern-facing light to filter into the orchestra rehearsal space. At the penthouse level, additional EcoScreen panels were used to conceal some of the building’s mechanical equipment.
CENTRIA Versawall® insulated, lightweight metal panels also clad the building where it faces an inner alley creating long, sleek lines and providing superior thermal and moisture protection against the elements.
The Student Life and Performance Center is in the process of finalizing its LEED Silver® certification. This project marked the fourth team effort between Ann Beha Architects and Gensler. The general contractor was AECOM Tishman, and the installer was Sunrise Erectors.
Related Stories
75 Top Building Products | Dec 16, 2019
Top Flooring Products for 2019
Tarkett’s aviation-inspired flooring collection and J+J Flooring’s textile composite flooring are among the four new commercial flooring products to make Building Design+Construction’s 2019 101 Top Products report.
75 Top Building Products | Dec 12, 2019
Top Building Envelope Products for 2019
Sto's beetle-inspired exterior coating and Dörken Systems' UV-resistant vapor-permeable barrier are among the 28 new building envelope products to make Building Design+Construction's 2019 101 Top Products report.
| Sep 13, 2019
ABC Supply Co. opens a branch in Sharonville, Ohio
ABC Supply Co. opens a branch in Sharonville, Ohio
Building Materials | Nov 9, 2018
As trade war heats up, long-term impact is anyone’s guess
Seven months into Trump’s trade war, the jury is still out.
Sponsored | Building Materials | Aug 1, 2018
Building for now... and the future
Metal building systems are often selected for large-sized structures, and with good reason.
Office Buildings | Jul 25, 2018
New study on occupant comfort advances Saint Gobain’s design approach for renovation and new construction
The building products giant gauges its employees’ perceptions of old and new headquarters environments.
Great Solutions | Jul 13, 2018
Fungus may be the key to colonizing mars
A Cleveland-based architect and a NASA Ames researcher have a novel idea for building on Mars.
| May 30, 2018
Accelerate Live! talk: T3 mass timber office buildings
In this 15-minute talk at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago), architect and mass timber design expert Steve Cavanaugh tells the story behind the nation’s newest—and largest—mass timber building: T3 in Minneapolis.
BD+C University Course | May 24, 2018
Accommodating movement in building envelope materials [AIA course]
We may think of the building envelope as an inanimate object, but in reality its components can be quite mobile. This AIA CES course is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
