![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N26_medium_2024-03-25-181907_hrpz.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N26_medium_2024-03-25-181907_hrpz.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N26_medium_2024-03-25-181907_hrpz.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N26_medium_2024-03-25-181907_hrpz.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
USF School of Music
The School of Music (SOM) is a long-anticipated project for the University of South Florida's College of Visual and Performing Arts. Originally housed in the Fine Arts Building constructed in 1963 for a mere 100 undergraduates, the University's music program has since quadrupled, pushing the limits of its physical capacity and compelling students to seek makeshift practice spaces outdoors.
![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N28_medium.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N28_medium.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N2_medium.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N2_medium.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
The project's dramatic yet simple defining element – the lyrical wall – uses form and shadow to express rhythm and pattern. The wall reinforces the building’s purpose – music – and guides audiences to and through the building. It opens to lobbies, student spaces, a green amphitheater and smaller, more intimate spaces. The lyrical wall soars to 55 feet in height in some places and diminishes to bench height in others.
![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N24_medium.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
![](https://hanbury-design.imgix.net/i/07010_00_USF_Music_N24_medium.jpg?auto=format,compress&fit=max&w=4040)
Phase I includes a new teaching facility with a 500-seat concert hall and a 100-seat recital hall. Supplementing performance venues include gallery spaces, classrooms, libraries, practice rooms, rehearsal halls, informal collaboration spaces, faculty studios, and administration offices. A 1,200-seat performance hall is planned for Phase II.
Hosting choral, instrumental, jazz, and percussion instruction and performance, the new SOM transforms the learning environment for students and faculty, establishing a music presence on campus and strengthening and enriching the University's cultural offerings.
“The students have taken to the building without hesitation… and the faculty have made themselves at home; we now have a building that’s state-of-the-art for a long time to come.”
– Ron Jones, Former Head of the USF College of The Arts
- Sector: Higher Education
- Scope: Architecture, Interior Design
- Tampa, Florida
- 2011
- 113,535 SF
- Photos courtesy of © Robert Benson Photography
- Excellence Award (Unbuilt Work), AIA HR, 2009
- Honor Award, AIA VA, 2012