PROJECT Performing Arts Center at Garrett College
ARCHITECT DLR Group
LOCATION  McHenry, Maryland US

PROJECT COMPLETION DATE  4/12/2023
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN TEAM  Monika Smith, AIA, LEED AP; Paul Westlake, FAIA, IIDA; Amy Dibner, AIA; Emma Hoppstock Munroe; Rich Hubacker, AIA, LEED AP; Mike Boco; Kathy Walbert, LEED AP; Jose Jordan, RID, IIDA; Maggie Chaffin, Associate IIDA
OWNER/CLIENT Garrett College
CONTRACTOR/CONSTRUCTION MANAGER  Leonard S. Fiore, Inc
PHOTOGRAPHER  Kevin G Reeves Photographer
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Carroll Engineering | Claire Fishman, P.L.A., LEED Green Assoc.
CIVIL ENGINEER Carroll Engineering | Craig Shannon, P.E.
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER Carroll Engineering | Mark Hood, P.E.
MECHANICAL ENGINEER DLR Group | Steve Shapiro, P.E., LEED AP
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER DLR Group | Paul Kempainen, P.E.
CONSULTANT Theater design: Patrick Barrett, DLR Group, pbarrett@dlrgroup.com
CONSULTANT Acoustical design: Jonathan Hopkins, DLR Group, jhopkins@dlrgroup.com
CONSULTANT Audio-visual design: James Krumhansl, DLR Group, jkrumhansl@dlrgroup.com
CONSULTANT Security/ IT: Ray Heintel, DLR Group, rheintel@dlrgroup.com
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SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
The Performing Arts Center at Garrett College fulfills a decades-long vision of the community to build a performing arts facility in Garrett County, the only county in Maryland that did not have a performing arts center. The new facility addresses the needs of the college, the county’s public schools, and organizations like the Garrett Lakes Arts Festival that bring cultural programming to the county.

The building creates a new cultural icon for the County that energizes the community's creative vitality and economic capacity. The center is a community forum for creative activities, bringing people together while supporting and encouraging performing arts and community education in the county and the region. It links the campus with the community, exposing arts activities to passersby via a large north-facing opening in the recital hall that twists off the campus grid to capture the attention of visitors approaching the building, enticing them to explore the center while connecting the interior space with the picturesque landscape of Garrett County.

The venue creates a destination where county residents, visitors, and students can join in arts-related activities. The project scope consists of adaptive reuse of an existing gymnasium and a 15,800 SF addition. The design places a new audience chamber and stage house within the footprint of the existing gymnasium, raising the roof plane to allow for optimal height in the audience chamber and for rigging in the stage house. The 450-seat proscenium theater has a shallow orchestra pit that can be filled to expand seating or raised to extend the stage. The addition includes the lobby, theatrical back-of-house functions, including dressing rooms, green room, patron amenities, and faculty offices.

The visitor experience is choreographed to promote a sense of discovery and delight through the building geometry and intentional use of color, texture, and shadow play. The twist in the building geometry focuses the arrival experience on the sculptural, red-colored theater entrance. Only once the visitor reaches the theater entrance, the art gallery reveals itself to the right, flooded in daylight. The recital hall's exterior cast stone extends into the lobby space's interior, strengthening the connection between the outdoor and indoor environment. The project implements many sustainable design strategies to achieve targeted LEED Silver certification (in progress). The theater reuses the exterior walls of the existing gymnasium, and the adjacent existing lockers were adapted for a new program, reducing the amount of new materials used in the project as well as demolition landfill waste.

JURY COMMENTS (If applicable)

“The jury chose this project to be awarded based on the development team’s longtime effort to bring a cultural facility to the community. In addition, for being an adaptive reuse project and for site planning strategies. The new building form planning completes the receiving/arrival courtyard space. Placing the breakout and pre-function spaces facing the open lawn resulted as a welcoming gesture and enhances anticipation to a main event in the evening. For its contribution to expand the cultural exposure, providing a place of gathering, consideration of building upon existing facilities [re-use] and incorporating sustainable solutions, the jury felt this project is deserving of an Honor Award.” –Jose Lobo

MEDIA FOR DOWNLOAD
Project PDF

IMAGES (Captions and Photographer Credit)
1. Caption: Exterior, Credit: Kevin G Reeves Photographer
2. Caption: Daniel E. Offutt, III Theater, Credit: Kevin G Reeves Photographer
3. Caption: Recital Hall, Credit: Kevin G Reeves Photographer
4. Caption: Lobby, Credit: Kevin G Reeves Photographer
5. Caption: Art Gallery, Credit: Kevin G Reeves Photographer
6. Caption: Theater Entrance, Credit: Kevin G Reeves Photographer
7. Caption: Recital Hall, Credit: Kevin G Reeves Photographer
8. Daniel E. Offutt, III Theater, Credit: Kevin G Reeves Photographer