| |
 |
|
©1997 Greg Premru |
|
|
With a nod to its past and an eye to the future, Berklee officially opened its Genko Uchida building in February. Calling it the "real capstone for the 50th anniversary of the college," Berklee president Lee Eliot Berk led a ceremony that celebrated both the building's practical advantages and its historical significance.
The 58,000-square-foot, $15-million building increases Berklee's educational and student-support space by nearly 20 percent, providing expanded educational facilities for the Guitar, Percussion, Piano and Ensemble departments.
Jazz Composition Chair Ken Pullig led a committee of about 35 faculty, staff, and students that began meeting in 1994 to determine how the new facility would address the campus's space needs. "Berklee has always been a place of great change and transformation, and this building is a wonderful continuation of that," Pullig said during the ceremony.
The Uchida building is the new home of the college's Student Affairs Area, bringing together a range of student services that previously had been dispersed around campus.
"With more student services in one building, access is easier for all students," said Vice President for Student Affairs/Dean of Students Larry Bethune. "The building also provides cutting-edge classrooms, a mid-size concert hall, more computers, and the best instrumental rooms at the college."
New Recital Hall Earns Rave Reviews
The most impressive room in the building is the David Friend Recital Hall, a semicircular performance space with a horseshoe-shaped balcony, designed by architect Shizuo Harada. According to building architect Myron Miller, Harada referred to the recital hall as "the typhoon room, a metaphor for Berklee's success in spinning out talented musicians around the whole world."
Named after the longtime Berklee trustee who recently donated $100,000 to the college, the Friend Recital Hall seats 160 people and uses a stage that can be moved to the center of the room, creating a performance-in-the-round environment.
"It's gorgeous and it's really geared toward acoustic music," said Vessela Stoyanova, a fourth-semester student from Bulgaria majoring in performance and film scoring. "The room has a very natural sound and works well for unamplified instruments."
Go to Page Two of this Article
[  Print-friendly Version ]
| 
