Great Barrington, Mass.
Ann Beha Architects

Ann Beha Architects creates a dynamic campus symbol while respecting tradition and creativity at the Daniel arts center of Simon's Rock College of Bard

	Photo © Peter Vanderwarker

By Sam Lubell

Founded as a 1960s experiment for motivated and restless high school juniors and seniors to advance directly to college, Simon's Rock College of Bard began with a tiny student body on a campus nestled in the Berkshire Mountains. In recent years, the school, hoping to expand its offerings, has enlarged its student numbers by about a third, and has begun augmenting its facilities to match, building a new athletic center, science center [RECORD, February 2000, page 88], dormitory, and upcoming student union. But while doing this, explains longtime dean (and now literature professor) Bernie Rodgers, the school didn't want to lose the quirky, alternative character that made it special in the first place.

Therefore, in designing the school's Daniel Arts Center, Boston-based Ann Beha architects had a lot to negotiate. It wanted to retain the uniqueness of the college and respect the surroundings of verdant forests, timber frame buildings, converted barns and sheds, and Modern construction. At the same time, it sought a contemporary set of buildings that would be a symbol of the school's progress and a literal public face at the campus's edge. All within a modest $12.5 million budget.

The 53,000-square-foot complex, which triples the school's total arts space, is located on a fairly steep incline on the roughly 5-acre site of an abandoned orchard near the campus entrance. It replaces a quaint but outmoded cluster of off-campus dairy barns used for the arts. In order to respect the campus's scale, maintain intimacy, and make the center's elements more legible, the architects broke the complex into three parts: one for performing arts, one for visual arts, and a shop, which sits slightly apart from the others. The buildings are oriented to face the rest of campus and to maximize exposure to natural light.

The performing arts center, the facility's largest component, includes a 350-seat main-stage theater; a 100-seat studio theater; a dance studio; and several rehearsal, support, and office spaces. The complex effectively evokes both Modern and vernacular design. The main section's cedar cladding and sloped roofs lend it a contemporary sophistication, but still evoke the pastoral forms and even the cedar aroma of New England barns. Each building component establishes its own identity, but the three are unified by their proximity, and their simplicity—perhaps the complex's strongest features.

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the People Owner Simons Rock College of Bard Architect Ann Beha Architects 33 Kingston Street Boston, MA 02111 T 617.338.3000 F 617.482.9097 www.annbeha.com Engineer(s) MEP/FP: TMP Consulting Engineers www.tmpeng.com Structural: LeMessurier Consultants www.lemessurier.com Civil: White Engineering Inc. www.weainc.com/ Consultat(s) Landscape: Reed Hilderbrand Associates, Inc. www.reedhilderbrand.com Lighting: Ripman Lighting Consultants www.ripmanlighting.com Acoustical: Acentech www.acentech.com Theater Consultant: Fisher Dachs Associates www.fda-online.com Occupational/Safety: OccuHealth Inc. www.occuhealth.com Audio/Visual: Nicholas Browse and Associates browse-av.com General Contractor Mullaney Corporation www.mullaneycorp.com Photographer Peter Vanderwarker T/F 617.964.2728 Cell 857.231.1466 Renderer(s) Steven Gerrard AIA, AnnBeha Architects Floor Plans and Site Plans Credit: Ann Beha Architects

the Products Exterior Cladding Metal/glass curtainwall: - Standard Kawneer entry areas curtain wall www.kawneer.com - Polygal glazing used as curtain wall in selected areas www.polygalusa.com Wood: Stained Cedar plank Siding Hardi Plank Siding, custom applied www.jameshardie.com Metal: Painted aluminum roofing Windows Aluminum: Eagle Windows, operable www.eaglewindow.com Glazing Insulated-panel or plastic glazing: Polygal www.polygalusa.com Doors Entrances: Kawneer www.kawneer.com