Project Index

Planning and design consulting for a new film studio and schematic phase theatre planning for a 1,000-seat theatre.

North Central College advanced the fine and performing arts on campus with a series of projects involving new construction and adaptive reuse. Opened in the fall of 2008, the 57,000 SF Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center is now a beacon for the arts on campus and in the greater community.

To further foster learning, practice and performance. North Central College included a flexible performance space in their plan as well. The College renovated the 95-year-old former Grace Evangelical Church for this purpose and helped preserve an important part of the College’s and the community’s history in the process.

Schuler Shook provided theatre consulting and architectural lighting design services for the new Fine Arts Center, including the 650-seat Wentz Concert Hall and the 150¬seat Madden Theatre. The studio theatre includes flexible seating and staging options, providing the perfect setting for theatre, dance and music performance. We worked closely with Talaske Sound Thinking, the acoustician, and Loebl Schlossman & Hackl, the architect, to create an appropriate concert hall for groups such as North Central College’s Concert Winds, Women’s Chorale and Concert Choir. Our lighting designs are seen in the concert hall, studio theatre, lobby and gathering spaces.

This new performing arts centre replaced the significant Fine Arts Auditorium on campus. The new building include a 1,000-seat auditorium and music rehearsal rooms with planning for a future recital hall. 

While primarily used for music performances, including the Valley Symphony Orchestra, the centre also supports dance performances, especially folkloric dance with mariachi accompaniment.

Schuler Shook provided full theatre design services and architectural lighting for the theatre, main lobby, grand stair, second floor lobbies, first floor side gallery spaces and the building façade.

As a part of the University of Chicago’s Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, Breasted Hall serves as a space for the institute’s events and lectures, as well as lectures and admissions tours. A renovation to the 1931 hall was conducted to restore the historic space and improve lighting and accessibility. The room now complies with UChicago’s ADA+ standards.

In December of 2002, the new Proscenium Theatre addition presented its first performance. The 250-seat theatre is the anchor venue of this new arts centre for theatre, music, and dance. 

The facility includes a black box theatre and a recital hall which are new performance spaces that are located in the existing arts building. The three performance spaces are connected with a new lobby and supported by dressing rooms, scene shop, costume shop, storage, loading, and arts classrooms. The theatre has a full fly house, orchestra pit lift, and state-of-the-art technical systems.

Eckstein Hall is a four-story, 200,000 SF contemporary building for modern law. Schuler Shook provided lighting design for the four-story central atrium, library reading room and mock court.

The central atrium required flexible lighting for multiple activities including studying, lectures, and recognition dinners. The space is highlighted with pendant clusters, providing visually comfortable ambient light on vertical and horizontal surfaces. Integrated downlights with glare shielding provide multiple light level options for the variety of activities in the space. Indirect uplight completes the space.

A linear sconce at the stair tower visually reinforces the strong vertical architectural form and helps illuminate the stair treads

The lighting design in the spacious third-floor library reading room provides users a visually comfortable experience through a combination of slender bookshelf task lighting, downlights and wall wash accents, and custom pendants that acknowledge the traditional chandelier of the former Law School. In addition, the pendants create a beacon for the school visible from surrounding neighbourhoods and freeways.

McKendree University added to its campus a new facility for the arts – the Hettenhausen Performing Arts Center.

Schuler Shook’s theatre planners were involved early in the project to discuss with university leaders the precise needs that the new facility would fulfill. We worked closely with architects at Mackey Mitchell to design an appropriate new home for the arts while remaining sensitive to tight budgetary constraints. 

The beautiful 500-seat theatre anchors a 34,000 sf building. The facility includes a large band room, large rehearsal spaces, ensemble practice rooms and simple backstage accommodations. 

Northwestern University completed significant renovations to this 1928 student residence hall, creating the first LEED Gold certified green student living space on its Evanston campus.

Schuler Shook’s lighting designers strategized and documented new lighting for this renovation, including lighting for the first floor lounges and corridors as well as the building’s dorm rooms and washrooms.

Valparaiso University’s Christopher Center for Library and Information Resources is a four-story, 115,000 square foot building featuring a wide variety of spaces, including library stacks, reading rooms, computer labs, writing centres, classrooms, a café, a community room, and a conference room. Schuler Shook designed the lighting for all of these spaces to provide a warm, inviting place for students and faculty.

The Heritage Room, a 30-seat conference room, features a custom rectangular pendant suspended from the curved wooden ceiling. A combination of halogen lamps within the pendant and linear fluorescent uplights can be independently controlled. The pendant can be raised and lowered by a motorised winch to accommodate A/V projections.

Awards: AIA Chicago Citation of Merit 2005 IES IIDA Regional Design Award 2004

The Humanities Center for York College of Pennsylvania project began as a study in 2001 and was green lighted in late 2005.

The study resulted in a new performing arts centre in a prominent location on the college campus, consisting of a 700-seat proscenium theatre and a 150-seat black box theatre, a scene shop, dressing rooms, and support spaces. The facility includes a full fly loft for the benefit of student and community productions, as well as educational lectures and special events.

Schuler Shook provided theatre planning and design services for the performance and supports spaces, an orchestra pit lift, and complete theatrical lighting and rigging systems. Schuler Shook also provided architectural lighting design for the lobby and the theatre.

The Hallie Ford Fine Arts Center at East Central University is a new cultural centre for theater, music, performing arts and Mass Communication for an eighteen county region of Oklahoma. The new 82,000 square foot Fine Arts Center was built to host the University’s art, music, theatre, speech and mass communication programs. The project was recently awarded an Outstanding Design in American School & University’s 2010 Interiors showcase.

Schuler Shook provided theatre planning, lighting and rigging systems design for the new 1,082 seat Fine Arts Center that included classrooms, studios, practice rooms, an art gallery and sculpture garden.

Theatre planning, lighting and rigging systems design for new 27,800 square-foot Cooper Center for Communication Arts, including 200-seat university theatre and 150-seat black box theatre. 

Schuler Shook worked along with Studio RED Architects to provide theatre planning, theatrical systems design, and seating and platform systems design for the Visual & Performing Arts Center.

The 30,000-square-foot facility includes a 338-seat proscenium theater, a 100-seat black box theater, rehearsal spaces, an art gallery, and classrooms.

Schuler Shook’s scope in the main theater included a catwalk system and side lighting positions supporting both technical access and creative staging. The black box theatre includes modular audience seating and staging options to accommodate varied performance styles.

Originally constructed in 1937 as a field house and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, this adaptive reuse provides the Fayetteville Arkansas campus of the University of Arkansas with its only true music venue. The space includes a 587-seat concert hall, musical instrument and stage storage areas, lobbies and event spaces.

Schuler Shook completed the feasibility study, conceptual study and programming for the university in 2011. Schuler Shook also provided full theatre planning design services which encompassed theatrical planning, audience seating, and technical systems design. Motorized lighting battens and ceiling reflectors, variable acoustic curtains, and platform lifts provide flexibility to the space to allow for different sizes and types of ensembles. 

Texas A&M University — Commerce has a rich history dating back to 1889, and music education has long played a part in the university’s success. The original music building was built in 1956. With the continued growth of the Department of Music, the university determined that a new, state-of-the-art building was needed now and for the future. 

The new 69,500 SF Music Building consists of the 530-seat Lou and Jack Finney Concert Hall, an 85-seat recital hall, large rehearsal spaces, offices, and teaching and practice rooms. 

Schuler Shook provided theatre planning, lighting and rigging systems design for the new concert hall, recital hall and rehearsal rooms. 

Schuler Shook’s theatre planners were involved from the preliminary design of this 185-seat customized hall for the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Designed for televised press conferences, distance learning and teleconferencing use, the room features automated lighting and a stage that raises and lowers. 

Working closely with Rees Associates, our consultants designed the theatrical stage dimming and controls systems, the flexible platform and the architectural lighting for the room.

Texas Southmost College Music Education Building and Recital Hall is the latest building addition for arts on campus. This performing arts centre is home to an 800-seat main performance space designed to support an orchestra of up to 150 pieces as well as opera and theatre. Three rehearsal halls with teaching studios, a dressing room, green room, ticket booths and a lobby with a sweeping river view complete this new centre.

Schuler Shook provided theatre planning, lighting, adjustable acoustic system, concert shell and rigging systems design for the new music education building, including the main performance hall, rehearsal halls, teaching studios, and dressing rooms.

Schuler Shook provided comprehensive theatre planning and architectural lighting design for the University of Memphis’s Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, an innovative music facility crafted to support the next generation of performers. This 83,000-square-foot venue houses a 900-seat convertible concert/opera hall, along with rehearsal spaces and cutting-edge music technology, all designed to inspire both students and audiences.

Our team was focused on designing performance systems that elevate the artistic and educational experience. We were responsible for developing the stage lighting, rigging, concert shell, pit lift, performance lighting, and production infrastructure, ensuring the facility can accommodate a wide array of musical performances.

Key considerations such as sightlines, accessibility, and audience comfort were prioritized to create an immersive and intimate environment for both concert and opera experiences.

Schuler Shook provided full theatre consulting services for Lee College’s first-ever Performing Arts Center, including the new 40,000 sf multipurpose auditorium, rehearsal space and black box theatre.

Schuler Shook provided initial feasibility study, theatre planning and design of the seating, stage lighting, orchestra shell and adjustable acoustic draperies.

Theatre planning, theatrical lighting, performance platforming and rigging design services for renovation of 1,700-seat theatre. 

Schuler Shook provided design services for theatrical rigging and lighting systems, control booth location and layout, as well as advisory service on a retractable audience seating bank for Dance Studio B. We also collaborated with an outside lighting designer to coordinate lighting controls of their specified lighting in this studio.

MCTC uses fluorescent perimeter cove fixtures to uplight into wooden coffers, giving it a warm established street presence on Minneapolis’ Hennepin Avenue. Excellent stack lighting ensures student’s visibility of book shelves’ bottom row. Decorative pendants are randomly located in the main conference room, giving the space a festive atmosphere

MCTC’s illuminated parking ramp provides a dramatic entrance to the college and Minneapolis Arts District. Schuler Shook also designed the lighting for MCTC’s library located directly across from the parking ramp.

Sam Houston State University is known for its strong theatre and music curricula. The school sought a new centre that would bring together music, dance and theatre while providing distinct performance areas attuned to the needs of each art form.

Through Schuler Shook’s programming and planning effort with the design team and performing arts departments, we helped create performance spaces specific to each art form. 

Built in 1957, Swathout Hall was renovated in 2015 to expand the platform size, provide better ADA access, upgrade the performance technology, and update the hall’s finishes. The performance hall is well-equipped to host solo and chamber music performances, as well as occasional chamber opera productions.

The new Music Education Complex at Texas A&M University-Kingsville includes a 500-seat performance hall, 100-seat recital/lecture hall, four large ensemble rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, classrooms and offices, collaborative spaces, and a recording studio. The building replaces the existing music building that was acoustically and spatially inadequate for TAMU-Kingsville’s active and growing programs. Schuler Shook provided programming and theatrical planning and design. Both the performance and recital halls include theatrical lighting systems for general concert illumination and atmospheric lighting effects, controllable through lighting consoles or accessed as pre-programmed presets for simple operation.

The performance hall, recital hall, and four large rehearsal rooms have curtain systems to adjust the acoustical characteristic for different types of ensembles. Additionally, the performance hall features two motorised, tilting reflector panels over the platform for further acoustical adjustment. These systems are motorised in the two halls for easily repeatable operation.

Caruth Auditorium is a 490-seat concert hall used by Meadow School of the Arts. The auditorium is used for recitals, symphonic and choral concerts, and as a teaching space. The star instrument of the room is Opus 101, a beautiful C.B. Fisk pipe organ.

Schuler Shook provided design services for new organ lighting, new house lighting, and performance lighting upgrades. Color-changing LED wash lights highlight the organ and minimize heat gain on the pipes. New LED house lighting provides even illumination throughout the audience areas. Color-changing lights wash the side walls and uplight the ceiling reflectors. Circulation lighting was added to improve safety. Replacement theatrical lighting fixtures were tested, selected, and installed based on their photometric performance, power-saving LED technology, and flexible power control for silent operation. Motorized electrics battens were added for easy access to theatrical lighting instruments over the performance platform and audience seating. The result is a flexible, visually appealing room having lower heat and power loads, colour-changing capabilities throughout, and simple operation. 

The new performing arts centre at the Lone Star College — Tomball campus replaces a smaller performance facility and provides students and faculty with a fully outfitted space for theatre education and performance. 

Schuler Shook provided theatre consulting services for a 425-seat multi-purpose theatre with orchestra shell for music concerts. The theatrical equipment includes 16 single purchase counterweight sets and seven motorised lineshaft rigging sets, adjustable acoustic curtains and orchestra pit with filler platforms. Schuler Shook also designed the theatrical lighting systems and advised on the seating.