Designed by Pfeiffer Partners, based in Los Angeles, and with acoustical design by the world famous Nagata Acoustics, the $64 million center for the arts will provide high-tech support for the broad array of young performance artists while also creating a signature piece of architecture for the distinct school.

“What really defines a campus, in my mind and in the mind of the firm, was the in between spaces on campus,” said Bill Murray, AIA, partner at Pfeiffer Partners. “Really some of the best spaces on campus are what happens between the buildings and the landscape and the art scape.”

Creating a focal point of entry for the new three-story center, the firm convinced the university to create an acre and a half park in front of the building. This creates a major entry piece to the main front doors and the large balcony terrace that overlooks the park, which feature various sculptures of famous composers spanning five centuries, Murray said.

As students and visitors approach the 83,000-square-foot Musco Center, which broke ground in September 2012, they will find a building characteristic of the university’s unique architectural character but with modern appeal. Pfeiffer Partners were charged with utilizing the same brick and cast stone materials typical of other building on campus and were mandated by the city to create buildings no larger than 55 feet. However, with an extensive use of glass and detailing, along with massive columns welcoming visitors to the entry of the building, the new center will stand apart from the rest.

“They’re monolithic,” Murray said of the columns. “They’re as big or bigger than the columns of the Pantheon in Rome.”

A large portion of the building is being built below ground in order to accommodate the height limit set by the city and the needed heights for the 1,100-seat theater and concert hall. Boasting an incredible array of lighting, audio-visual technology and sound design, the new center will also have top acoustical qualities thanks to the design by Yasuhisa Toyota, president of Nagata Acoustics Los Angeles office, Murray said.

“He has very specific requirements for concert halls,” Murray said of Toyota. “Then when you try to marry a theater function to that it becomes that much more complicated.”

The acanthus plant largely inspired the architectural elements of the multipurpose hall.

“I needed to come up with a way to diffuse the sound through the room. So I basically looked at the acanthus plant and began to extract that into an architectural language,” Murray said. “The room is a series of five major acanthus stock in plaster on the walls that then turned into a version of it on the ceiling in open wire mesh, which is transparent to sound.”

Due to the plants compound curves, Murray said, the acoustical qualities of the acanthus will allow sound to diffuse wonderfully in the new space.

“The [acanthus] theme is woven into the details and finishes of the building in the carpets and wall detailing of the lobby itself,” Murray said. “There’s a whole unification of an architectural expression of the acanthus form inside the room.”

The Musco Center for the Arts is due for completion in 2015.

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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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