Ball State University Music Instruction Building/Sursa Performance Hall, 2004
Typical web site commentary is detached and measured. I have to set aside this protocol
for a moment. This building was a labor of love for a number of reasons. First,
Ball State is my alma mater. Second, I am a musician and the chance to create a
building dedicated to performing and teaching music was a dream come true.
The real joy in the process though centered on the people who contributed to the
building during design and construction. We collaborated with Michael Dennis and
Erik Thorkildsen, two of the finest architects I have ever worked with. The university
was a marvelous client and the faculty put unimaginable amounts of energy into the
design. We literally invented certain elements in the building and then asked Weigand
Construction of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to translate our work into physical reality.
I can report that Weigand vastly exceeded my expectations. I still reflect on their
work and smile.
Programmatically, the building includes the Music Technology program studios, an
8,000 square foot state-of-the-art digital recording suite. The Choral Rehearsal
space doubles as a small performance space. The Band Rehearsal room is tunable to
dampen the high sound pressure levels from a large ensemble. Faculty Office/Studios
are specially designed for acoustic isolation. There are a variety of student practice
rooms and small ensemble spaces.
The building’s crown jewel is the exquisite Sursa Performance Hall, an acoustically
tunable space that provides variable reverberation times from 1.6 to 2.2 seconds.
This is harder to accomplish than it seems. The space uses six paired heavy acoustic
curtains and five paired movable acoustic panels that, when stored, present reflective
surfaces and when deployed, present absorptive surfaces. Each paired device is digitally
controlled and may be positioned from a single set of curtains to every last curtain
and panel.
In summary, the building is remarkable. This is because of the efforts of, literally,
hundreds of people. My only wish is that I could list them all.
Team:
Owner – Ball State University
Architect – CSO and Michael Dennis and Associates
Project Manager – Sam F. Miller (on behalf of CSO)
Structural – CSO
Mechanical/Electrical – L'Aquis Consulting Engineers
Acoustical Consultant – Purcell + Noppe; Roger Noppe
General Contractor – Weigand Construction; Bruce Stauffer, Tom
Harris
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