Aspen Music Festival and School,

Bucksbaum Campus Pond Cluster

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Two large orchestra rehearsal halls and a cantilevered pavilion on the edge of a pond comprise the centerpiece of the thoroughly redesigned campus for a world-renowned music school and a private elementary school. The day school uses the rehearsal halls for art and drama and the pavilion for their music program.

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As with all of the new buildings on this campus the exterior form of these three structures is the result of their use and their context: the large acoustic volumes required for rehearsing large orchestras, the geology of the dramatic surrounding landscape, and their relationship to the human scale of their occupants.  The massing creates a variety of natural outdoor gathering spaces with pleasant microclimates for student breaks in all seasons.  Decks overhanging the ponds provide pleasant circulation while animating the view with ambling students.

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Demands of acoustic excellence for the most discriminating classical musicians shape the interior volumes, and require surfaces to absorb, reflect and disburse sound in equal parts.  Translucent insulated clerestories temper the sharp contrast of the high altitude sun filling the spaces with glowing natural light while dramatic structural systems augment the lively acoustic environment with corresponding visual energy.