Music building to undergo renovations

For the next year and a half, a new sound will be coming from the music building on 34th and Walnut streets - that of construction.

For the first time since it was originally built as an orphanage in 1890, the building is undergoing major renovations.

Construction began early this summer and is scheduled to finish in January 2010.

"The building has for a very long time been in state of disrepair, inadequate to our teaching and research needs, didn't have any soundproofing and was not built for music to be performed or studied in," said Music Department chairman Jeffrey Kallberg, who called the renovations beneficial, "both acoustically and educationally."

The building's $15.9 million makeover by Ann Beha Architects will be from the inside out - literally - due to the fact that the facade of the main building is historically protected by the city. Its interior will be torn down and rebuilt while the exterior will be preserved.

The remaining smaller buildings surrounding it, including the annex, will be completely demolished to make way for a new, 14,000-square-foot state-of-the-art building complete with a recital hall, group practice rooms with acoustic separation, additional faculty offices, classrooms with sound and video equipment, music tech rooms and electronic studios, according to Kallberg. In addition, a new garden area will be added.

After being purchased by Penn in the early 1900s, various additions to the building have been made to allow it to house the Music Department, but no projects of this size have been undertaken, according to Tony Sorrentino, executive director of Public Affairs in the Office of the Executive Vice President.

"The building is basically falling apart, so it's necessary even if it's inconvenient," said College senior and music minor Aaron Blacksberg.

In the meantime, faculty offices and music classes are temporarily straddling two locations - a building on 37th and Market streets and the Chemistry building on 34th and Spruce streets - as well as the top floor of Fisher-Bennett Hall, where there is a recital hall and a number of practice rooms.

"It's a big job to reconstruct an entire building," said Kallberg. "It's a little strange for the faculty to be so far from campus but we're making due pretty well."

"It's a little frustrating how long it's going to take," said College junior and Music major David Gottlieb, who added that many practice rooms traditionally available for student use now are being used by teachers.

Gottlieb runs a Brazilian percussions ensemble that previously met in the annex but due to construction has moved to the Amado Recital Hall in Irvine Auditorium.

Some current upperclassmen are concerned that the facilities won't be ready for use by the time they graduate.

"I'm a senior, so I won't really see any of the results - I guess I'll have to come back and visit," said Blacksberg.

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