Goshen College Music Center receives architectural awards

GOSHEN, Ind. -- It's official -- the Goshen College Music Center is an award-winning facility.

Schmidt Associates, the Indianapolis-based architectural firm that designed the Music Center, submitted applications for the building to be considered in several competitions. For their architectural efforts, Schmidt Associates of Indianapolis, Ind., The Mathes Group of New Orleans, La., (now Mathes Brierre) and The Talaske Group of Oak Park, Ill., received three honors.

The Music Center, which opened in October 2002, was given a citation award by the American Institute of Architects. In addition, the Music Center received a 2003 Project of Distinction award from College Planning and Management, a magazine for college administrators and architects, and recognition from American School and University magazine, which listed the Goshen facility in its Outstanding Buildings: Specialized Features category.

"It is exciting to have confirmation of what we knew to be true," said Beverly Lapp, chair of the music department. "There are many people who deserve credit for this -- the design team of architects and acousticians, certainly, but also some Goshen College people who worked very, very hard."

Several committees, including on-campus planning and steering committees with vision for a music facility, were engaged with the architects in addition to former academic dean John Nyce who helped coordinate the construction process as a GC representative.

"These awards reflect the great care that was put into the planning process for building the Music Center," said Brian Wiebe, executive director of the Music Center.

According to Lapp, this is just the start. "I think we are just beginning to realize what it means for our department to be housed in this wonderful facility."

The Music Center is a 68,000-square-foot building featuring a 1,000-seat concert hall, 300-seat recital hall and art gallery, as well as numerous practice rooms, classrooms, faculty studios and the Community Music School.

-- by Landon Yoder

Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values -- passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership -- prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, Kaplan's "Most Interesting Colleges" guide and U.S.News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.

Editors: For more information, contact Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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