CFA Renovations Overview

Creating a Future for the Arts: Master Plan for Facility Renovation

Summer 2009:

View a slideshow of progress at 855 and 808 Commonwealth Avenue or learn about how you can support our ongoing renovations by contacting us at impulse@bu.edu or 617.358.5211.

The College of Fine Arts facilities need and deserve a restoration: a concerted effort to harness the potential of our facilities for two ambitious and mutually reinforcing purposes:

        • To create a new home for the College of Fine Arts: a special resource in the landscape of American performing and visual arts.
  • To create an “arts centerpiece” for the Boston University campus of the 21st century and beyond.

Boston University leadership has made a significant commitment to supporting this $30 million project, with an initial investment of $7 million for critical pre-construction infrastructure improvements, as well as a matching gift challenge of $15 million to help launch the project. In addition to creating a new home for CFA that is open, durable, and functional behind the scenes, we also strive to transform the our facilities into a glowing beacon for art students and art-lovers, a glass-fronted showcase for the artists, classes, exhibits, productions, and performances within.

As you will see in this overview, the renovation of the College of Fine Arts is a long-term, multiple-phase project. With any construction or renovation project of this scope and complexity, plans must be dynamic and respond to conditions as the project unfolds. In addition, the pace of the project is dependent upon our success in meeting our fundraising targets. We are very pleased to share the current plans with you, and look forward to bringing you updates as this important project progresses.

Phase 1.1
Judith R. Harris Center for Music Teaching and Learning and New Music Practice Studios

        • 120 spacious, acoustically sealed music practice rooms
  • New teaching facilities, including a fully equipped electronic music and composition studio, an ethnomusicology classroom with special humidity controls to preserve world instruments, and the Maria Clodes-Jaguaribe Piano Lab for group piano
  • New community lounge where students and faculty can work and socialize
  • Dedicated percussion suite designed for unique needs of percussion teaching and practice, including expansive hallways and reinforced sound insulation
  • Improved lockers and instrument storage
  • New, expanded painting studios at 808 Commonwealth Avenue
  • New printmaking, lithography, and etching classrooms at 808 Commonwealth Avenue with extraordinary natural light

Phase 1.2
Concert Hall and Ensemble Rooms Renovations

  • Raise roof of Concert Hall one full story > improved acoustical performance
  • New floor, wall, and ceiling finishes > acoustical enhancement
  • New connecting staircase between practice rooms and the Concert Hall > improved access control system

Phase 1.3
Entrance Arcade & Premier Performance Venue

  • New Entrance Arcade created with enclosure of entry alley
  • Replace/restore windows along west façade in new Entrance Arcade
  • Jacob Sleeper Auditorium upgrade > increase stage capacity
  • Acoustic and accessibility (A.D.A.) improvements

Phase 1.4
Turning CFA Inside Out

  • Restored showroom windows, grand staircase and student lobby gallery
  • New east entrance and reconfigured hallways providing direct access to public spaces
  • Renovated state-of-the-art computer lab

Beyond Phase 1

Subsequent phases will pursue further infrastructural improvements, including a new home for the School of Visual Arts at 808 Commonwealth Avenue; reuniting our theatre performance and design facilities on the Charles River Campus; consolidating our Schools of Music and Theatre on the upper floors of 855 Commonwealth Avenue; and addressing critical needs and enhancing assets of both the BU Theatre on Huntington Avenue and the BU Tanglewood Institute campus in Lennox, Massachusetts. We must also raise funds to increase scholarships, create endowed professorships, foster and support our professional residencies, and garner the resources to enhance the production values of our art exhibitions and theatrical and musical productions.

Download a complete campaign brochure