Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Mount Holyoke College

Kendall Sports and Dance Complex

  • 08/01/13
Mount Holyoke College 

PHOTOS © GREGG SHUPE 2013|SHUPESTUDIOS.COM,

When Kendall Hall was constructed in 1950 on the campus of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA, it must have been a wonder. Finally, athletics and dance, two aspects of the college’s physical education program, would get dedicated space in close proximity to each other.

By 2008, when Moser Pilon Nelson Architects began early design work on what was then only an expanded fitness center project, increasing needs for both growing programs were competing for existing space within the building.

Practice facilities for dance have only a few specific requirements — an appropriate, comfortable surface; sensitive light and airhandling controls; and a relatively separate location to ensure a quiet environment. Windows can include a mix of transparent and translucent glass, for added privacy, and doors are made wide enough to allow the transport of larger objects (such as a piano). Dedicated storage space for costumes, cubbies for personal belongings, mirrors, ballet bars — it’s not that complicated.

A 4,750-square-foot addition was placed next to the dance performance space, comprising two dance studios separated from the theater by a corridor. As part of the expansion, a new entry plaza with a diagonally placed grand stair under an entry canopy was installed. A 30-foot vertical glass element provides a view into the dance center circulation at the juncture of the new dance wing to the existing complex.

Inside, the performance center got permanent, fixed seating, with the slope made steeper for enhanced sight lines and to accommodate a theater-arts classroom underneath. The design team specified a 12-by-80-foot skylight that runs the length of the performance space, outfitted with blackout shades that open and close with the push of a button.

The reorganization complete, the dance program has an end of the building that — during performances, at least — it can call its own.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management August 2013 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Illinois District Boosts Security at High-School Stadium

    Richmond-Burton Community High School in Richmond, Ill., recently announced that it has completed the redesigned entrance to its high school stadium with a new focus on school security and community engagement, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects and Engineers on the project as part of District #157’s year-long facilities master plan.

  • Photo credit - Chuck Coates

    Florida District Modernizes Central Energy Plants at Two High Schools

    Flagler Schools, a public school district in Flagler County, Fla., recently partnered with Matern Professional Engineering to modernize the central energy plants at two of its high schools, according to a news release. The project is part of a larger, district-wide effort to reduce energy costs and operational expenses.

  • Image courtesy of Kahler Slater

    UW–Madison Announces Completion of Morgridge Hall

    The University of Wisconsin–Madison recently announced that construction is complete on Morgridge Hall, a new academic building, according to a news release. The facility opened September 3 at the start of the fall semester, consolidating the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences into a single facility for the first time.

  • Houston K–12 District Opens New Elementary School

    The Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (Lamar CISD) recently announced the completion of a new elementary school in a western suburb of Houston, Texas, according to a news release. Haygood Elementary School measures in at 110,000 square feet, has the capacity for 854 students, and is the first of three new schools scheduled to be built in the Cross Creek West community.