DALHOUSIE ARTS CENTRE

CAMPUS ICON

The Dalhousie Art Centre occupies a central full block frontage on University Avenue at the heart of a great campus. From the outset, the building distinguished itself from other adjacent Dalhousie buildings with its articulate architectural language involving concrete projections, curved precast surfaces and a balance of large, solid surfaces and idiosyncratically glazed openings.

1970S METABOLISM/CLIP-ON PLAN

The building was conceived in the 1970s as a Halifax experiment in Metabolist architecture. Concert hall, theatre, and gallery spaces were all conceptualized as being “clipped-on” to a linear circulation spine that organized movement within the building. Regrettably, this internal circulation system did not contribute to any campus wide movement and instead was internalized, and organized exclusively around the performance and teaching spaces of the building. No through-circulation was achieved.

THE NEW: RIFFING OFF NORDIC BRUTALISM

The new addition includes a 300-seat recital hall, primarily for classical music and non-amplified events with rehearsal and practice spaces for Dalhousie’s new Fountain School of Music. The architecture of the new attempts to “riff” off the Nordic Brutalism of the existing, but tries to do this with a language that is more delicate and sensitive to the scale of surrounding Halifax.

BLONDE RECITAL TO COMPLIMENT DARK WOOD OF THE EXISTING COHN CONCERT HALL

The recital hall is conceived as a classical, axial room, with a quirky minor asymmetry that relates to the opportunity to draw in natural light from the street wall to one side. In contrast to the existing 1000 seat Cohn auditorium with its dark Aalto inspired wall panels, the recital hall finishes are bleached white oak, light finished plaster with relatively quiet integration of technology.

METAPHOR: MUSICAL NOTATION WITH ‘LIGHT’ NOTES

The street elevation of the recital hall is expressed as an abstraction of a musical score, with the windows playing as “light notes” on a split faced stone grounding surface. Additionally, the windows to the street add a social dynamic that is important in the community, announcing to the outside world what’s happening inside and connecting the world of live musical performance at Dalhousie to the street.

OPEN/INVITING/DEMOCRATIZED

The new plan builds off of the existing spine of the original Metabolist plan extending the public circulation system with a 90° turn into a new lobby which ties the building to a seamless second entrance off Seymour Street. This second point of entry activates continuous movement through the building which will have enormous benefit to the entire campus and will serve to democratize a building that currently turns in on itself.