$8 million gift will help University of Michigan renovate music & art building

Oct. 30, 2012
$23 million renovation and expansion planned for Earl V. Moore Building on Ann Arbor campus

The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance has received an $8 million gift to renovate and expand the Earl V. Moore Building.

President Mary Sue Coleman announced the gift, from William K. and Delores S. Brehm, at the President's Leadership Breakfast, where she shared her plans for the upcoming year.

“We do art and science very well at this university; what binds the two is the university’s capacity for creativity,” Coleman says in a news release. “With their generosity, the Brehms are expanding the U-M environment for creative work and creative approaches.”

Construction for the project is expected to begin in early 2014 and take about two years.

The Brehm’s gift provides a significant portion of the total $23 million cost of renovating and expanding the Earl V. Moore Building, the original North Campus home to the music and dance school.

Of the total cost, $14 million is allocated from the university; the balance will come from additional fundraising. A gift from Glenn E. Watkins, emeritus professor of musicology, will provide for a state-of-the-art lecture hall as part of the expansion.

During the past several years, U-M has opened the Walgreen Drama Center and Arthur Miller Theatre, expanded and renovated the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

Built in 1964, the Earl V. Moore Building was designed by Eero Saarinen. The design evokes a harmonious relationship with the park-like surroundings on the North Campus.

In 1985, the Margaret Dow Towsley Center was added to the Moore Building; it contains the Blanche Anderson Moore Organ Hall and McIntosh Theatre.

The proposed architect of record for the renovation is Integrated Design Solutions of Troy, Mich.; Ennead Architects of New York City is the project’s design architect. Kirkegaard Associates will serve as the acousticians.

"With this expansion and renovation of Eero Saarinen’s historic Moore Building, we will continue to cultivate the vibrant programmatic diversity that is a hallmark of our school,” says Christopher Kendall, dean of the school.

The university says the renovation and expansion plans for the Earl V. Moore Building include:

  • A new rehearsal hall designed to accommodate large instrumental ensembles.
  • Renovation of the existing rehearsal hall and McIntosh Theatre, which will enhance the choral and opera programs and public performance opportunities.
  • A lecture hall designed for academic lectures, classroom teaching and visiting artist and scholar presentations.
  • An entrance and lobby to accommodate audiences for hundreds of recitals and performances in Britton Recital Hall, McIntosh Theatre, Blanche Anderson Moore Hall, and the new spaces within the expansion.
  • An increase in the number of practice rooms, and acoustical updates and increased room sizes for the practice wing.
  • New classrooms designed with acoustical treatment for academic classes and chamber music rehearsal space.
  • Added faculty offices and studios for one-on-one student-teacher interactions.
  • A suite of percussion and jazz percussion practice rooms, teaching studios and rehearsal spaces with advanced acoustical attributes.

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