The Mercersburg Academy, Burgin Center for the Arts

Mercersburg, PA, USA

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto

Drawing © Ennead Architects

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto

Photo © Aislinn Weidele/Ennead Architects

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto

Photo © Acoustic Dimensions

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto

Photo © Maxwell Mackenzie

Architects: ennead architects

Year: 2006

This flexible and sophisticated facility for teaching the performing and visual arts encourages cross-disciplinary exploration. The building mass nestles into its sloped site on the main quadrangle, reinforcing the scale of the campus and diminishing the impact of the theater’s fly tower. Natural materials, including wood and Pennsylvania limestone, reinforce the connection with the sylvan landscape on four sides. The floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall envelope blurs the distinction between indoor and outdoor spaces. Transparency of the glass and its luminosity at night reinforce access to the arts. Variable acoustics and advanced theater teaching technologies support the Academy’s goal to incorporate the performing arts into its core curriculum, and the theater provides an assembly space to accommodate the entire school.