Open house at new Center for the Arts Oct. 22

5:09 p.m., Oct. 16, 2006--The University of Delaware's new, $48 million Center for the Arts will hold a community open house from 1-3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 22. The building is located west of Orchard Road at Kent Way. Light refreshments will be served.

The Center for the Arts is connected by a covered pergola to a 715-vehicle parking deck, just west of the center, accessible from Elkton Road and Amstel Avenue.

The 92,000-square-foot education and performance facility houses a 450-seat Thompson Theatre, a Studio Theatre, which seats up to 150, a 200-seat Gore Recital Hall and the Puglisi Orchestra Hall, which seats up to 300, as well as 32 individual music practice rooms.

The 5,000-square-foot Puglisi Orchestra Hall is designed for multiple uses, including meetings, catered events and as a rehearsal space for the 300-plus-member UD Marching Band. Among the many performance-enhancing design features of the room are a curved ceiling to help disperse sound, as well as battered (angled) walls that direct sound upwards, acoustic draperies and the use of heavy materials to absorb sound. The structure rests on a floating neoprene pad and uses acoustic isolating joints to keep the music in the room and to provide an effective barrier to outside noises.

The lobby is capped with three glass sculptures topped with light monitors. Through a series of speakers and monitors, the lobby affords patrons an audio/visual connection to events taking place in the performance spaces. Also featured in the lobby is a décor that includes carpeted and hardwood floor surfaces, as well as a concessions area.

North of the Center for the Arts, what was formerly a parking lot has been transformed into a garden, with landscaping inspired by Mentors' Circle. The plant palette is similar to those used at Mentors' Circle and at Magnolia Circle on The Green.

The cost of the Center for the Arts is $48 million, exclusively from private funds. Gifts to this campaign included $10 million from the Unidel Foundation and $500,000 from the University of Delaware Alumni Association. In all, there were more than 1,200 gifts from individuals and organizations. In addition to $28 million in gifts, the remainder of funding came from funds the University had at hand that were earmarked for the construction. Ayers/Saint/Gross is the architect, and Whiting-Turner is the construction manager for the project.

Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson, Monnie Givens, Lane McLaughlin and Jon Cox

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