San Francisco Conservatory of Music

San Francisco, California, USA

Team

SMWM Architects, Architect; San Francisco, CA
Auerbach + Associates, Theatre Consultant; San Francisco, CA
Oppenheim Lewis, Project Management; San Francisco, CA

Project Awards

Best of 2007 - Performing Arts Winner - California Construction

Project Description

Founded in 1917, San Francisco Conservatory of Music offers music education in addition to community enrichment programs and world-class performances. The expansion of the school will dramatically increase its instructional and performance opportunities as well as its contribution to the cultural life of the Bay Area. The new facility almost doubles the square footage of the Conservatory’s current site at 1201 Ortega Street in the largely residential Sunset District and positions the 84-year-old college of music in the arts nexus of San Francisco, amid Davies Symphony Hall, the War Memorial Opera House, new Asian Art Museum and other prominent arts-related venues and institutions.

Acquired in March, 2000, the Conservatory’s Civic Center location includes two existing buildings, 50 and 70 Oak Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin. With its historically significant facades and relatively sound structure, 50 Oak Street will be restored and reconfigured, while adjoining 70 Oak, under a precautionary shroud since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, will be rebuilt in a complementary and contemporary design. Together almost 73,000 net square feet of space will be available to accommodate the Conservatory’s needs for acoustically correct studios, practice rooms and performance spaces as well as classrooms, offices and an expanded library. “The space is a wonderful metaphor for the Conservatory’s past and the future promise embodied by our students,” said Colin Murdoch, Conservatory president. “When completed, the building will be a transfixing combination of historical architecture and contemporary new design,” he said.

Among plan highlights is the innovative utilization of the existing grand ballroom with its elegant gilt columns and ornate 38′ ceiling as the audience chamber for the new Concert Hall, augmented by state-of-the-art performance amenities. This Concert Hall will seat up to 450; a new Recital Hall will seat up to 160 and a smaller Salon will seat up to 120.

The new Conservatory’s library will almost triple the square footage of the current library and will face an open rooftop terrace. Practice rooms will increase from 15 to 39 and the number of faculty offices will triple. Contrasting areas of public and private spaces are being incorporated into the building, with a dramatic 3-story atrium lobby linking the main entrance to the performance halls. A new street-level entrance will facilitate access for people of all abilities to attend the 365-plus performances and events presented by the Conservatory each year.

Plans call for demolition and site preparation to begin in October 2002, groundbreaking in January, 2003, followed by construction, move-in and set-up, opening for the fall, 2005, semester. Project cost is $80 million.