Mead Witter School of Music - Hamel Music Center

Madison, WI
The University of Wisconsin’s new two-story Hamel Music Center includes a concert hall, recital hall, and large rehearsal room and sits on the most visible and busy corner of campus. The design and construction of the building had to accommodate the tight jobsite and busy intersection while delivering a soundproof design that could silence the traffic just outside the doors. These challenges led the designers to precast concrete, as precast offers aesthetic versatility and can address noise concerns.

Precast concrete was used to create an acoustic shell to provide isolation from the noisy exterior, achieved by using a box-within-a-box concept for the recital hall and rehearsal space, where multiple layers of walls with 8-inch-thick precast panels form a shell for the primary exterior later. Panels were strategically shaped and sloped to further deflect sound. Wall panels folded into faceted forms to resemble a stage curtain, with folds, texture, and shadows. The deep folds were achieved by rotating panels horizontally and tilting them forward and backward vertically, allowing the panels to be staggered. Texture was created using a combination of exposed aggregate and a custom fluted profile used for every other panel face. Precast was erected in four months.

This project was a 2022 Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Design Awards Winner.
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PRECAST ELEMENTS

153 Wall Panels (20,922 square feet)
137 Sills and Copings (1,192 square feet)

PARTNERS

GC: JP Cullen
Architect: Strang and Steinberg Hart (formerly known as Holzman Moss Bottino)
EOR: RA Smith