Wheaton College | Armerding Center for Music and Arts

Cultivating the Arts Through Creative, Adaptive Re-Use

Through careful cultivation and stewardship, Wheaton College, located outside of Chicago, has developed a continually growing culture of musical excellence. This has resulted in rapid growth for Wheaton, necessitating further space for its music program.

Our team was engaged to develop a creative and adaptive solution for the renovation of a former science building, refitting the existing structure to serve the needs of the Conservatory’s faculty and students. The superstructure was retrofitted to include teaching studios and performance rooms; an existing lecture hall gained a story of additional height, becoming a new recital hall which hosts concert performances 200 days a year.

The Conservatory building is paired with a new, inspiring Concert Hall that can seat over 600 patrons. The Hall is located on a prominent site which anchors the main historic quad to the south and creates a new entrance to campus from the north. Rigorous testing and design standards were applied to provide the highest level of acoustic excellence for Wheaton’s musicians.

The new facilities encourage the musical and artistic engagement of all students, staff, and faculty, and allows the College to welcome the surrounding community in a shared enjoyment of the arts.