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Architects: Diller Scofidio + Renfro
- Area: 84000 ft²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Iwan Baan, Brett Beyer
Text description provided by the architects. The 84,000 sf Prior Performing Arts Center for the College of the Holy Cross has been designed to be an incubator for multidisciplinary learning grounded in the performing and visual arts for students from all academic disciplines. Standing as the cultural center of the school—with venues for both fine arts and performing arts—the building houses the 400-seat concert hall, a 200-seat flexible studio theatre, and the relocated Cantor Art Gallery.
Anchoring the Upper District of campus, the Center gathers together existing vectors of campus circulation at its heart: the Beehive. Around this central space the programs are divided into four pavilions: the Multipurpose Theater for opera and music; the Studio Theater for drama; Art/Media; and Practice/Production.
The four pavilions are contained within two pairs of walls that intersect to form a nine square grid. In each corner of the grid lies a unique courtyard garden: a small amphitheater, an outdoor teaching area and workspace, a meditative garden, and a sculpture garden. The paired walls twist, rise, and interlock, the wall of one pavilion becoming the roof of its neighbor, forming a chain around the center and creating arched entries directly into the heart of the building. The opposing precast concrete and weathering steel walls reinterpret the brick and limestone of the historic campus. Taking advantage of the site’s natural beauty, the Center’s design creates a meaningful counterpoint to the surrounding campus architecture, both fitting in and standing out on the highest point on campus.
