Albert Arnold Sprague Memorial Hall occupies a prominent position at Yale University, sitting in the geographic centre of the buildings that define the Yale School of Music. As one of two concert halls on campus, the facility needed to command an electrifying flagship presence and be more welcoming and accessible architecturally.

On the exterior, the lighting has been reconceptualized to create a sense of occasion, invigorating the atmosphere of the facade and projecting the animation of live performance to the street. Illuminated playbill cabinets and festive banners add to Sprague's vitality and provide a necessary communication infrastructure.

Within, the front-of-house spaces benefit from a reconfigured box office and ground floor lobby, with enhanced lighting and material richness contributing to the sense of arrival and theatricality. Refurbishment of the existing 720-seat Morse Recital Hall have improved both its acoustics and its aesthetics. New wood sound and light locks, sound isolating windows, and a control booth at the rear of the orchestra, are intended to bring the recital hall up to modern performance venue standards.

A new generously scaled and well-appointed green room, along with enhanced facilities for performers, complete the back of house transformation. State-of-the-art rehearsal rooms and graduate music studios were built into the lower level of the building which also serves as the new home and principal address for the YSM's administrative staff.

Site
470 College Street, New Haven, Connecticut

Client
Yale University, School of Music

Program
Renovation and additions to the 1917 Coolidge & Shattuck building, including rejuvenation of the existing 720-seat recital hall, new MEP systems, and new administrative and practice facilities

Construction Cost
$15.0 million (USD) 

Project Team
Thomas Payne (partner-in-charge), Christopher Couse (senior associate), Judith Taylor (associate), Margaret Graham, David Poloway, Aaron Letki, Jill Greaves

Consultants
Patrick Pinnell Architect (consulting architect), LZA/Thornton Tomasetti Engineers (structural), Altieri Sebor Wieber LLC(MEP/FP), R. Lawrence Kirkegaard and Associates (acoustics), George Sexton Associates (lighting), Theatre Projects Consultants (performance lighting), Vermeulens Cost Consultant (cost), Bruce J. Spiewak (fire and life safety), Towers/Golde with Cornelia Hahn Oberlander (landscape)

• 2004 United States Institute for Theater Technology Architecture Award of Merit