Music and Drama Center
From CarlWiki
The Music and Drama Center, sometimes abbreviated M&D, consists of two buildings, the Concert Hall and Arena Theater above ground, but it was designed and built as one unit with a common basement and foundation. It was dedicated in 1971 in conjunction with the inauguration of President Swearer.
Design
The M&D was designed as two above-ground buildings for aesthetic as well as acoustic reasons—the college did not, in the words of President Nason, want "a massive building that would overshadow the Chapel and other buildings," and noise from a performance in the Concert Hall would not be heard in Arena, and vice versa.
Please see the articles on the Concert Hall and Arena Theater for descriptions of the above-ground portions of the M&D.
Below ground, the two buildings share a common foyer. Also downstairs are a large rehearsal room, practice rooms, an art gallery, a dance studio, an instrument library, dressing rooms for the theater, and prop storage. Because the two above-ground structures are diagonal to each other and not in a direct line, many of the downstairs rooms have odd 45 degree and 135 degree angles...including the urinals in the men's room!
History
Design work on the M&D began in 1959, ten years before the actual groundbreaking. It was located where Gridley Hall stood before it was demolished in 1967, and part of Gridley's foundation can reportedly still be seen in the tunnels near the M&D. Construction began in 1969 and was completed the following year.
Almost immediately, structural problems and design flaws became evident with the building(s). The underground practice rooms leaked when it rained, and the roof of Arena was structurally unsound (and even now, any curtain or scrim that is to hang down over the stage is required to be hung from the catwalks, not from the ceiling itself). The college found itself paying for extensive repairs on both buildings, and by 1978 had hired an attorney to attempt to recoup money from the architect and builders. In 1984, a settlement of over $2.4 million was paid to Carleton—considerably less than what had already been paid in repairs and lost in other costs.
References
- Hillemann, Eric. The Performing Arts. Item 38:9 of the Cobwebs conference on Caucus (NetID required). May 31, 1993.
- Thueson, Matthew R. The Performing Arts. Item 38:31 of Cobwebs, quoting a letter from President Nason to Dr. Charles A. Culver from November 29, 1968. Posted on February 3, 1999.
