Colby College
Gordon Center for Creative & Performing Arts
Project Overview
- State-of-the-art creative and performing arts center to enhance cross-disciplinary connections and collaboration
- Extensive acoustical requirements to enhance experience across multiple performance spaces
- Managing new construction on an active, occupied campus
To make creativity a more central component of both the Colby and Waterville community experiences, the College embarked on an on-campus collaboration and innovation hub to serve as the new home for its Departments of Theater and Dance, Music and the Cinema Studies Program. The Center houses multidisciplinary creative and performing art spaces including a world-class performance hall, arts incubator, recording studio, film-screening studio, practice areas, dressing rooms, scene shop and classrooms to support new forms of creative expression.
A design-assist delivery method was utilized for the building’s mechanical controls and custom curtainwall for improved constructability and efficiency. To support peak performance quality, extensive acoustic considerations were required throughout various trade packages. The new facility—constructed on the active campus—is part of a larger arts initiative that includes Colby’s Museum of Art, Lunder Institute for American Art and downtown’s Paul J. Schupf Art Center and arts collaborative. The project achieved LEED Gold.
