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The John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center
Over one hundred miles of electrical cable, 11,750 sheets of drywall, 230,000 exterior brick, 599 tons of steel and 175 construction workers later, Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne is privileged to offer the campus and community a stunning new 110,000 square foot space in which to gather.
With a project this large, how does a design team begin to determine all of the ingredients needed in an extremely complicated recipe? It was essential for the building’s architectural firm of Schenkel Shultz to seek not only the input of acousticians and theatre designers nation-wide, but also the needs of the student musicians and faculty.
Robert Bean, chair of the IPFW Department of Music, was an integral member of the planning committee, responsible for preparing the
32-page Academic Program Statement outlining all of the space requirements needed by the department in the new John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center. Relocating from the basement of the Classroom Medical Building to the north end of campus, Bean had the concerns and wishes of numerous individuals to bring to the design team.
“The opportunity to help meet the needs of our department in a new building was a thought-provoking and exhilarating process,” said Bean. “Keeping in mind a set budget, we had to make sure we included the facilities to house the resources to foster dynamic growth in our department.”
Music education, for example, has a dedicated classroom configured like a typical elementary school music room, where future educators will learn to teach, as well as, a resource room that houses specialized music education materials. Orff instruments are now stored on convenient carts and racks with their own closets for storage, saving dozens of hours loading and unloading supplies.
The instrumental and choral rehearsal rooms each have adjacent storage for instruments and risers, along with a library conveniently located between, and easily accessed by, each rehearsal room. Rather than 14 practice modules, student musicians now have 24 separate practice rooms in which to rehearse, with four of those rooms having state-of the-art recording capabilities. Faculty and students who want to record rehearsals and performances can now do so on cutting-edge equipment in both rehearsal halls, along with the Rhinehart Recital Hall and the Auer Performance Hall.
More space was created for performance instruction including spacious piano studios large enough to accommodate matching grands and a large sound isolated percussion studio. Computer labs and classrooms accommodate not only current technology, but are ready to handle future advancements.
Chancellor Michael Wartell also wanted to have dedicated office space allocated for Community Arts Organizations, making the IPFW campus the central location for their operations. Those groups include Fort Wayne Area Community Band (FWACB), Fort Wayne Children’s Choir (FWCC), Foundation for Art and Music in Elementary Education (FAME), and Unity Performing Arts Foundation, Inc.
Unity is currently in their seventh year of operation and have had their offices on the IPFW campus since their inception in 2000. Their new office space will be ready to occupy by mid-fall. Choral Program Supervisor Pat Johnson has been with Unity Performing Arts Foundation since the beginning.
“We enjoy being on campus and find it is a great benefit to our students. They get the experience of being on a college campus and it has definitely inspired many of them to go on to college,” Johnson said.
The young singers of the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir were some of the first to use the new choral rehearsal room for their annual Choralfest. The summer intensive brings their seven choral groups together to begin the choral season. The week-long event is also peppered with other art experiences including African drumming, dance and drama.
“Exciting and successful relationships between children’s choirs and universities have been happening all over the country,” explains Katey Wilks, FWCC Executive Director, “And we are very excited to be a part of the IPFW Campus.”
Along with the Visual Arts Building and the Ernest E. Wlliams Theatre, the John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center promises to provide moving and memorable experiences for patrons of lectures, art, music, theatre and dance, and brings the IPFW College of Visual and Performing Arts a giant step forward in being recognized as “The Center for Arts Education in Northeastern Indiana.”
The Ernest E. Williams Theatre , built in 1992 is home to the Department of Theatre. Seating 297, the Williams boasts a semi-thrust stage, state-of-the-art lighting, scene shop, costume shop, rehearsal/dance studio, dressing rooms and a collection of plays and theatre and dance videos. The theatre computer lab is included in the VPA multimedia lab in the adjacent Visual Arts Building .
Studio Theatre was the department's performance space until construction of the Williams Theatre . An experimental black box space seating 150, the theatre is located in Kettler Hall. Studio Theatre recently experienced a $250,000 renovation that includes features making it one of the most up-to-date theatres in the region to accommodate the creative design of students and faculty.
- 150 new, upholstered seats, fixed in place, yet easily arranged in a variety of configurations
- Two separate entrance stairs with newly fabricated handrails
- A handicap accessible, vertical, hydraulic lift
- New curtains, paint and enhanced storage areas
- New metal pipe grid for the ceiling with a plug and play umbilical electric system
- New intelligent, flexible lighting system including new dimmers and house lights
- New hardware and theatrical communication software
- A uniquely sprung, movable resilient dance floor allowing for more dance classes and performances
The Visual Arts Building provides art students with spacious, specialized studio space for study and production of ceramics, sculpture, metalsmithing, printmaking, painting, drawing, graphic design and photography. Classrooms, woodshop, three art computer labs, the 65 seat multimedia Plogsterth Lecture Hall and the Visual Arts Gallery complete this well-equipped art facility, which was constructed in 1990 .
Dolnick Hall is home to the IPFW Music Therapy Clinic, the only on-campus working clinic in a state university in the State of Indiana . In addition to a spacious clinic activity room, the well-equipped facility provides three treatment rooms, video-linked observation stations, faculty offices and a pleasant waiting area. With easy-access for clients, the clinic is able to serve approximately 40 clients annually for extended treatment periods.
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