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

  • Opportunity by Design Framework

    Opportunity by Design

    Educational improvement efforts often focus on curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, and intervention systems while treating the physical school building as background. But school design is not a passive backdrop to learning — it is a structural lever for equity.

  • Secret to Efficient, On-Time School Infrastructure & Modernization Projects is All in the Preparation

    Warmer weather and longer days make summer the ideal time for construction and modernization projects at educational facilities. School boards and construction firms must coordinate effectively to ensure that these projects do not extend even a single day into the school year and impede classroom operation.

  • Higher Ed is Betting on New Buildings While Quietly Undermining Their Campuses — Here’s Why

    In this climate, the owner’s representative has changed from a delivery-focused advisor to a strategic campus partner. Institutions are increasingly relying on owner’s reps not just to manage, cope, schedule, and budget, but also help evaluate whether a project should proceed at all.

  • 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.