In Worcester, Mass., a one-hour drive from Boston, the College of the Holy Cross has completed its $110 million Prior Performing Arts Center. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), the 84,000-square-foot facility serves as an incubator for multidisciplinary learning and creativity, with venues for both fine arts and performing arts. The PAC will support creative collaboration among faculty and students across all academic disciplines.
Among the PAC’s key features, the Beehive is a flexible space that includes a shared multimedia teaching area for electronic music and musical composition courses, sound recording, sound editing, and video and film editing. The Beehive also provides collaborative workspaces, multipurpose rehearsal spaces, a cafe, and gathering spaces with movable furniture.
The Luth Concert Hall, a 400-seat convertible concert hall and proscenium theater, serves as the College’s principal venue for symphonic music, chamber music, jazz, gamelan, and opera, as well as musical theater and dance. The Boroughs Theatre is a 200-seat, fully flexible experimental theater space. And the Cantor Art Gallery offers a variety of interdisciplinary exhibits and increased exhibition and storage space.
Support spaces include a scene shop, costume design studio, recording studio, lighting and set design study, and multi-use spaces to encourage collaboration among the arts and between the arts and other disciplines. Outdoor amenities include a small amphitheater, an outdoor teaching area and workspace, a meditative garden, and a sculpture garden.
Major inaugural performances at the PAC will take place in December, including the world premiere of a new violin concerto composed by a College of the Holy Cross professor.
On the Building Team:
Owner: College of the Holy Cross
Executive architect: Perry Dean Rogers
Landscape architect: OLIN
Civil engineer: Nitsch Engineering
MEP engineer: Altieri Sebor Wieber
Structural engineer: Robert Silman Associates
Related Stories
Performing Arts Centers | Mar 9, 2023
Two performing arts centers expand New York’s cultural cachet
A performing arts center under construction and the adaptive reuse for another center emphasize flexibility.
Virtual Reality | Feb 27, 2023
Surfing the Metaversity: The future of online learning?
SmithGroup's tour of the Metaversity gives us insight on bringing together physical and virtual campuses to create a cohesive institution.
Arenas | Feb 14, 2023
A new communications platform aims to help sports and entertainment venues operate greener
GOAL (for Green Operations and Advanced Leadership) will give operators ways to gauge their sustainability journeys.
Giants 400 | Feb 9, 2023
New Giants 400 download: Get the complete at-a-glance 2022 Giants 400 rankings in Excel
See how your architecture, engineering, or construction firm stacks up against the nation's AEC Giants. For more than 45 years, the editors of Building Design+Construction have surveyed the largest AEC firms in the U.S./Canada to create the annual Giants 400 report. This year, a record 519 firms participated in the Giants 400 report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Giants 400 | Feb 6, 2023
2022 Reconstruction Sector Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. building reconstruction and renovation sector
Gensler, Stantec, IPS, Alfa Tech, STO Building Group, and Turner Construction top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest reconstruction sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Feb 1, 2023
2022 Cultural Facilities Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. cultural facilities sector
Populous, DLR Group, KPFF, Arup, and Turner Construction head BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2022 Giants 400 Report. Building types include museums, public libraries, performing arts centers, and concert venues.
Performing Arts Centers | Dec 23, 2022
Diller Scofidio + Renfro's renovation of Dallas theater to be ‘faithful reinterpretation’ of Frank Lloyd Wright design
Diller Scofidio + Renfro recently presented plans to restore the Kalita Humphreys Theater at the Dallas Theater Center (DTC) in Dallas. Originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, this theater is the only freestanding theater in Wright’s body of work.
University Buildings | Dec 22, 2022
Loyola Marymount University completes a new home for its acclaimed School of Film and Television
California’s Loyola Marymount University (LMU) has completed two new buildings for arts and media education at its Westchester campus. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion is the new home of the undergraduate School of Film and Television, which is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 10 film schools. Also designed by SOM, the open-air Drollinger Family Stage is an outdoor lecture and performance space.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 90 Construction Management Firms for 2022
CBRE, Alfa Tech, Jacobs, and Hill International head the rankings of the nation's largest construction management (as agent) and program/project management firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022
2022 Giants 400 Report: Tracking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
