According to an interview with The Stanford Daily, Executive Director of Arts Programs Matthew Tiews, overwhelming student interest inspired the school to begin planning new and improved practice spaces. Tiews said, “There was a real desire for a drop-in creative space where students could come, just swipe their ID, get in and have a space to make work, rehearse and perform in.”

In the fall of 2012, the university newspaper ran a story highlighting the many difficulties students encountered in finding viable practice space. At the time, Scott Kepley, technical services director for the university’s music department, said, “[We have] so many different groups that want to use our spaces that we have to give [music department] students the first crack. Then, we try to open it up to the broader student group on campus.”

Paula Salazar is the Stanford Arts Institute’s arts in student life coordinator, and recognizes that many students who aren’t necessarily affiliated with the school’s various arts programs often encounter the most difficulty in accessing rehearsal space. “We definitely understand that there is a lack of arts spaces on campus, and it’s one of our biggest priorities,” Salazar said. “Art will still be a part of their lives and will continue to enrich their experience.”

Though the project is still in the design phase, and is not scheduled for completion until the fall of 2015, it will be the fourth project dedicated to the arts in recent years. The $30.5 million Anderson Collection, which is being billed as one of the world’s most impressive private assemblies of modern and contemporary modern American art, will open in 2014. Meanwhile the $85 million McMurtry Building, which also aims for a 2015 opening, will soon be home to the university’s Department of Art and Art History. They will join the equally impressive Bing Concert Hall, which has been hosting concerts and special events since January 2013. These investments in the school’s arts program have helped diversify the university, which is widely recognized as a leader in the sciences.

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Designed by Richard Olcott of New York-based Ennead Architects and constructed by Turner Construction Company, headquartered in New York City, the 112,365-square-foot $122 million vineyard style concert hall includes state-of-the-art acoustic design by internationally renowned acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota.

“Good acoustics in a concert hall serves to enhance the audience’s experience
by making it easier to understand the performance they are enjoying,” Toyota said. “When the sound is rich and clear, we can fully understand the musicians and composer’s intent for our enjoyment.”

Music and acoustics are inseparable, Toyota said, and if the both music and acoustics are not appealing audiences can easily become distracted.

The room shape itself and the materials have the greatest influence on the acoustical design of a concert hall,” Yasuhisa said.

Yasuhisa and Olcott worked closely in order to produce the most effective design to utilize acoustics.

“The Bing Concert Hall exemplifies the seamless exemplifies the seamless integration of architecture, acoustics and technology with the goal of transforming the practice study and experience of the performing arts at Stanford,” Olcott said in a statement.

Double curved ceiling reflectors 48 feet above the stage housing the state-of-the-art technical lighting, rigging and sounds support equipment.

The Stanford Arts Initiative, the driving force in bringing a new concert hall to the Stanford campus, wished for a kind of versatility that would pay homage to the wide variety of musical artists on campus.

“In addition to achieving acoustical excellence, the client’s objectives for the design of Bing Concert Hall recognized the changing nature of classical music performance,” said theatre planner and designing firm Fischer Dasch and Associates in a statement. “Contemporary classical soloists, orchestras, and chamber groups are increasingly experimenting with visual media, lighting, and movement, and the hall has been carefully designed to facilitate these more theatrical types of musical presentations.”

Stanford Lively Arts Executive and Artistic Director Jenny Bilfield said Bing Hall has brought connectivity and flexibility to artists and the audience. While the acoustics and design welcome both acoustic and amplified sounds, the vineyard style seating allows a more accessible musical experience. For concert attendees

“My favorite part is that it’s designed with a social quality and human quality for the audience in attendance,” Bilfield said. “We wanted the audience to be able to hear the grittiness or striking tone of the bow hitting the violin and the artist a range of expressivity that will be heard.”

From any seat in the concert hall concert goers will be able to experience the same high quality sound while being in sight line of the performance and other audience members.

“The vineyard style configuration, whose terraced seating sections ring the stage, creates an intimate concert experience, a warm and rich environment for audience and performers,” Olcott said in a statement. “Each seating section has a unique and intimate feel, particularly the center-section seating, which begins at the same level of the stage.”

Despite the price of your ticket, Bilfield said, the structure of seating allows each audience member to feel a part of the artistic community.

“You see people, you see students, you see people of all ages,” Bilfield said. “There’s an active awareness of your placement in the experience.”

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