Trustees pick architects for music building

The IU Board of Trustees selected the architects for the Jacobs School of Music’s new North Studio Building, which will be built north of the current Music Building Addition or the “round building” on Third Street, said Alain Barker, director of marketing and publicity at the music school.

Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects of Indianapolis and Flad Architects of Madison, Wis., will share the design leadership role for the project, Barker said.
The building, funded by a $44 million gift from the Lilly Endowment, will accommodate faculty teaching studios, music practice rooms, rehearsal rooms, classrooms and offices.

“The combination of the two firms will give the University and the Jacobs School of Music the best possible chance to deliver an outstanding new music facility,” said Terry Clapacs, vice president and chief administrative officer, in a statement. “Both firms are nationally recognized for their design excellence and ability to create university facilities that are also very functional.”

Both firms have ties to the Bloomington campus. Browning Day was the primary architect for the Student Recreational Sports Center and Flad designed the recently completed Simon Hall and the Multidisciplinary Science Building II, which is currently under construction on North Walnut Grove.

“We feel the best architecture results from learning about the place where the building is going and the people who are a part of it,” said David Black, design principal of Flad Architects. “So we take the time to observe, walk around and ask questions. The setting of Indiana University is part of the experience and part of the identity of the campus.”

It is particularly important to the firms to make the North Studio identifiable as an IU building because of the campus’s uniqueness, Black said.

“The buildings of Indiana University-Bloomington are richly detailed in Indiana Limestone,” Black said in an e-mail. “Although the buildings display a variety of styles, they share a collegiate Gothic expression. The character of the land causes each building to negotiate the terrain in a way that gives each building identity, but in a familiar way.”

In addition to the North Studio Building, the project also involves pre-schematic planning for future phases of growth at the Jacobs School, said Jonathan Hess, president of Browning Day.

“We’re working on what might be considered a master plan that takes a look at Merrill Hall, the Simon Music Building and the new North addition,” Hess said. “We will look into how to connect them in ways that provide better access to and through these buildings.”