Macalester College - Quid Nunc Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

Page 15 text:

Fine Arts, Science, Athletics Projects on Building List Showplace of the campus and functional quarters for art, speech, drama, language, music, and English instruc- tion and activities will be the planned Fine Arts-Humani- ties Complex, which is scheduled to be ready for classes in September, 1964. The group of buildings which will be joined physically by a center courtyard area, will also provide a meeting ground of the humanities and fine arts in terms of faculty, students, and subject matter. President Rice stated that since poetry and music, art and the theater, and music and the theater are all so closely related and integrated, having all the areas joined into one complex would facilitate their supplementing and complementing one another. The Con- servatory, art rooms in Old Main, and Little Theater drama area will be vacated as these departments move into the consolidated area. Many outstanding features have been incorported into the four units of the Complex. The theater in the Speech building will be the finest in any American college. George Izenour, a professor at Yale, and the world's foremost authority on auditorium acoustics, has designed the acous- tical arrangement for the new Mac theater. He has recently completed the shell for Northrup Auditorium at the Uni- versity of Minnesota, and worked on Carnegie Hall in New York City. Unique about the theater is that, by elevating or turn- ing the seats, it can be used for every kind of drama including Theater in the Round, Restoration, Shakes- pearean, as well as for modern plays. It promises to be the most flexible and exciting in the country. The theater section will also have dressing and practice rooms, as well as storage area. Macville wreckage forecasts doom for the next abandoned victim. Going . . . gone - a Macalester Street house is no more. Moving provided release from wreckage for two houses ' Ill! ' ,

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Architect General Dean points out blueprinted features to members of the Board of Trustees buildings and grounds committee. The heart of the campus, Old Main, is viewed through the Summit Avenue fence. Land Purchases, Wrecking Make Wa for Construction Science facilities are to be housed in an ultra-modern building to be constructed at the end of the present ath- letic field, making a quadrangle behind Old Main. The astronomy observatory will be installed in the new build- ing. Although plans have been nearly completed, this project awaits confirmation of financial grants. Building the science hall and athletic area have neces- sitated the destruction of Macville, long a College insti- tution. At press time, only three of the units remained, and this is the last year married students will reside there. Although the design and external architecture of the blueprinted buildings will be modern, the architects have retained the same color bricks, white woodwork, and similar general features of existing structures so that some harmony will be maintained in campus edifices. Though not newly constructed, three just-moved-into houses are serving expanded needs. The Admissions staff now conducts operations in what was International House at 41 Macalester Street. Because they needed more room, International House directors Mr. and Mrs. Harry Mor- gan redecorated a large house at 1635 Summit Avenue into a pleasant meeting place for foreign and American students. The Bureau of Economic Studies made a short move from its house across from the Little Theater, when wrecking crews took over, to new headquarters on the corner of Macalester and Princeton. The little Theater, a temporary building that has served far beyond original intent, will be replaced by the Fine Arts-Humanities Complex. :S ,2

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Skylighting and shrubbery provide a pleasing entrance to the Fine Arts-Humanities Complex from the campus side. New Theater to be Finest in Any American College Music students can look forward to a modern recital hall which will seat from 250 to 300 people in the music section of the Complex. Movable wall panels will give the proper acoustics for a single voice or for a chorus. Oflices, classrooms, practice and rehearsal rooms will supply the department needs. Three-dimensional arts will be housed in the third por- tion of the Complex. A large major studio will be equiped for sculpture, welding, and with kilns. There are plans for an advanced sculpture studio, also, in addition to two painting studios. Prof. Caponi has traveled throughout the country to gain ideas for his department. Eighty to a hundred students can see movies in the art projection room. It was planned so two or three sections can go together for this visual learning process. Two large language labs which will increase upon the present amount of equipment are planned to aid language instruction in the humanities building. The number of classrooms devoted to language, literature, and English will be increased. The skylighted entrance foyer in the center of the building will open to the music and speech units. Blueprints also include student and faculty lounges separated by a movable wall which can double the entertaining area. Another feature is an art exhibition hall for student browsing. Groundbreaking is scheduled for August of this year. Art students can display their work in the proposed gallery.