Arthur Zankel Music Center - Skidmore College - Saratoga Springs NY

After decades of planning and eight and a half years of design, funding and construction Skidmore College has just moved into their new music facility. The project includes the 600-seat Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall, a keyboard repair shop, jazz ensemble practice room, percussion practice rooms, 2 recording studios, a large ensemble rehearsal room, faculty offices, a conference room, the 75-seat Elizabeth Luce Moore Recital Hall, a chamber ensemble rehearsal room, faculty studios, a 15-workstation media computer lab, seminar rooms, classrooms, 14 individual practice rooms, a student lounge with balcony terrace, a harpsichord room, 220 instrument lockers, and the Sue Corbet Thomas outdoor amphitheater.

Among many green attributes the project includes partial geothermal heating/cooling.

The glass back wall of the stage is provided with two motor-operated draperies -- one opaque and one with 10% light transmission -- to temper a wide range of outdoor brightnesses, from noon to midnight.

The facility opened for classes in January, 2010.

The Arthur Zankel Music Center was awarded a 2010 "Merit Award" by the AIA Cleveland chapter.

The Arthur Zankel Music Center was awarded a 2011 award for lighting design excellence by the IES Philadelphia Section.

The overhead acoustical reflectors are rigged to fly on motorized winches that raise/lower and also tip the panels vertical. This is done to set the ceiling at different elevations for different styles of music and also to clear the ceiling up out of the way for other uses of the stage. The audience is not aware of the very large volume of space above the reflectors. The audience is also not aware of the high density of technical services available overhead to present artists at their best and help the facility run efficiently.

Recital Hall.

Architect: Belson Designs
Acoustician: Marshall KMK