Allegheny College, Vukovich Center for Communication Arts

The Center places the arts at the center of Allegheny College, metaphorically and physically. Its strategic placement creates an arts quadrangle on Allegheny’s campus, exposing students to the arts and linking the structure with the student center while rationalizing a significant grade change.

The building’s exterior palette of zinc, glass and red and dark gray iron-spot brick accentuate its simple volumes and reference the campus context.

A traditional proscenium theater layout was adapted to create a flexible performance space that enables actors to enter and exit either backstage or through the audience, creating an engaging, intimate and participatory theater experience.

A central outdoor gathering space blurs the distinction between inside and outside: it engages the building interior by means of a glazed curtain wall, whose transparency is underscored through the use of low-iron glass.

The new technologically-advanced facilities enhance collaboration among disciplines, enable innovative new teaching methods, and allow the department to enrich its programs in the communications arts.