Fine Arts Building to undergo renovations to meet influx of music and art students

Renovations to the Fine Arts Building will open fall of 2013 (photo courtesy of The School of Visual and Performing Arts).

To address a growing number of art and music students at Mason, the College of Visual and Performing Arts will be renovating the Fine Arts Building to address the lack of classrooms and practice space.

While construction is underway, classes will be moved to different buildings across campus.

“What we have done as a college is a lot of music classes have moved to the arts building,” said Dan Hobson, production manager for the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “We were able to house 75 percent of classes that were moved.”

Originally built in 1989, the Fine Arts Building is primarily used by music and art students. After the renovations are complete, more theater classes will be housed in the building. 

The project’s renovation will include acoustical and environmental upgrades. Given the unique nature of music classrooms, renovations have to be made to ensure that instruments aren’t damaged by indoor climates.

“There are special humidity concerns,” Hobson said. He explained that if humidity is too high, valuable instruments are susceptible to being cracked and damaged.

Additionally, construction designs will attempt to control the acoustics of the building. According to Hobson, some of the walls in the building will be angled in an effort to reduce the amount of sound that leaves the room. In traditional rooms, the sound waves bounce back and forth and create a strong echo effect. Angled walls would absorb sound and allow students to play without disturbing other classes.

The renovation will include 27 new practice rooms that will also serve as instrumental studios for music teachers. Each room will be isolated and include one of 32 Steinway pianos. Two new theater spaces will be built to give Mason’s growing theater department additional room to rehearse. Sprung floorboards will be installed for stage combat and dancing. Three academic classrooms will also be built.

According to the GMU facilities website, the project’s construction details were planned to begin last year; however, there have been delays in the technical drawings. Currently, the cost of the renovation will be around $9,300,000.

The renovation is set to be completed in May of 2013 and open for the fall of 2013.