Allegheny College, Vukovich Center for Communication Arts

Meadville, PA, USA

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto

Photo © Aislinn Weidele/Ennead Architects

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto

Photo © Aislinn Weidele/Ennead Architects

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto

Photo © Aislinn Weidele/Ennead Architects

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/Esto

Architects: ennead architects

Year: 2009

Conceived as a teaching theater for drama, television and related communication arts, the facility creates a dynamic new center of student activity on campus. The building defines a new arts precinct on campus by completing an existing quadrangle. Its organization around a double-height production corridor sponsors the informal interaction and productive collaboration central to the creative process: traditional distinctions between “front of house” and “back of house” activities are minimized. Exterior materials – zinc, glass and red and dark gray iron-spot brick accentuate the simple volumes of the building. Interior building materials and the theater’s technical equipment are celebrated to express a “refined black-box” aesthetic.