Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Berry College Renovates Historic Ford Auditorium

  • 07/23/19

ROME, GA – High-performance acoustics, digital lighting and sound systems, and reconfigured audience seating are among enhancements underway as JE Dunn Construction renovates and restores historic Ford Auditorium on the campus of Berry College in Rome, GA.

The renovation—funded by gifts from more than 400 alumni and friends—will enhance the experiences of artists and audience members alike, delivering benefits from improved sightlines to impressive multimedia capabilities, while preserving and restoring historic elements of the facility, which dates to the late 1920s.

Ford Auditorium is Berry’s signature venue for music performance. It also provides rehearsal and classroom spaces for the college’s music program. It is part of a group of campus buildings known as the Ford Complex, named after Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford, who along with his wife, Clara, were generous supporters in the earliest days of the school. These impressive English Gothic structures were featured on a recent USA Today list of 51 amazing university and college buildings.

Berry College Ford Auditorium

Improvements to the iconic auditorium will also include repairing the building’s leaded stained glass cathedral windows, enlarging the stage and upgrading curtain systems, new seating, reestablishing the plaster arches, refurbishing the lobby and restrooms, revamping MEP systems, and installing a new oak tongue-and-groove radiused ceiling.

The project’s architect of record is Cevian Design Lab. Kirkegaard Associates of Chicago is providing acoustics consulting.

The auditorium will be completed in time for start of spring semester January 2020.

Featured

  • UT-San Antonio Begins Residence Hall Renovations

    The University of Texas at San Antonio recently began a $6-million renovation project to one of its residence halls, according to a news release. Originally completed in 1986, Chisolm Hall measures in at 120,860 square feet and is the oldest and largest residence hall on campus.

  • Missouri Child Development Center Completes $2.3M Expansion

    The Urban Sprouts Child Development Center in St. Louis, Mo., recently announced the completion of a $2.3-million expansion and adaptive reuse project, according to a news release. The new space includes a retail café, outdoor learning space, and a support office building.

  • TCU Marks Campus Expansion Milestone

    Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a topping-out ceremony to mark progress on a major campus expansion effort including four new residential facilities and a five-story parking garage, according to a news release.

  • Texas A&M Opens First Building at Fort Worth Campus, Breaks Ground on Research Facility

    The Texas A&M University System marked a major milestone in the development of its Fort Worth campus by opening its first completed academic building and breaking ground on a second facility designed to expand research and industry collaboration.