MIT’s much-anticipated Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building officially opens its doors to the public in a gala free-for-all* Sonic Jubilance running from 1:00 to 7:30 pm on February 15^th. Meanwhile we got to preview the new facility Saturday in the context of pianist Mi-Eun Kim’s spectacular Saturday afternoon faculty recital (reviewed HERE). The BSO Chamber players will celebrate the space on March 2^nd as part of a collaborative  Artfinity Gala.

Japan-based SANNA Architects located its fourth building in the United States upon the site of a former parking lot in what is colloquially known as the “Infinite Corridor” among some of the Institute’s mid-20^th-century icons. The building’s three interlocking platonic solids (too distinctive to be considered contextual) perhaps evoke the brutalist massing of Eduardo Catalano’s nearby Stratton Student Center…or perhaps not. Does its red-brick façade echo Alvar Aalto’s serpentine red-brick Baker House without the curves? A swooping entrance canopy that seemingly takes cues from Eero Saarinen’s sweeping, molded concrete Kresge Auditorium relieves the rigid effect of the Center’s three heavy masses, though it appears to form a radius rather than an ellipse.

The tallest of the three cubes houses the facilities of the Music Technology and Computation Graduate Program, offices, smaller rehearsal spaces, and practice studios. The smallest encloses a lofty and well-padded space for the Galak Tika (gamelan) and Rambax (Senegalese drumming ensemble). The third cube (50 ft.) is entirely devoted to the Tull Theater; with 340 raked arena seats (interrupted with tunnel-ramps for lions and Christians) and the possibility of another 50 on the flat floor, it feels a bit like a sphere within a cube in the manner of the Boulez Sall (80 ^{ft cube}  with 682 seats) or the Haydn Planetarium (100 ^{ft cube} seating 429). An exoskeleton similar to the cubistry of the Calderwood Theater at the Gardner Museum (40 ^{ft. cube}  seating 300) encloses the arena seating at Linde. (Linde Center acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota also worked on the Gardner and the Boulez Saal).

The Linde Building (W-18), a collective project of musicians, leaders, and designers over decades, should solve the music department’s dearth of useful space for the 1,500 undergraduates (out of 4,000) who participate. The welcoming lobby’s mostly brick walls (sometimes seemingly applied like wallpaper) support an aluminum-grid barrel vaulting. A winding staircase with painted steel pipe and expanded mesh infill dominates the lobby, backed by a glass section that reminds one of the lobby at Kresge. SANAA chose Terrazzo for the floors. Initially expensive, it is much cheaper in the long run than materials that wear out.

From the lobby one enters the gamelan cube rather unceremoniously through industrial painted steel fire- and sound-proof doors. Repeating convexities with generous applications of sound attenuating materials, running from floor to ceiling of the perimeter, define the glacially quiet volume. Participants will no longer need to plug their ears.

The dominating multi-floor cube, a beehive of needed and useful workplaces, is, at this point, rather bland, with narrow hallways, sheetrock walls, vinyl baseboards, and dropped acoustical tile ceilings. I expect that after the building is turned over to the department, the walls will be covered with posters, bulletin boards, and art, if these can be applied without compromising sound proofing. Our tour guide Marcus Thompson’s door jamb already sported a baby viola d’amore, serving as a talisman or mezuzah.

In Tull Hall, the floors and stairs, and upper railings (irregularly spaced in the Japanese style) and other elements of the arena are defined by blond wood. Repeated off-white convex plaster pilasters (to be painted with light and projections in the future) rise 50 feet to the white intumescent-painted steel grid ceiling with well-engineered catwalks and lighting grids. Nearby halls such as the Groton Hill Center, Shalin Liu Center and the Frank Gehry’s Gardner addition certainly laid on expensive detailing more lavishly, but the Linde Center apparently aims primarily to provide a useful workspace for students. It remains to be seen how often the public receives invitations to Tull. It would be nice if the Institute’s invited-guest-artist concert series resumed after decades of silence. The series presented some great string quartets.

For Saturday afternoon’s solo piano recital, Tull Hall embraced us in a sonically warm and coolly visual vibe. The performer appeared brightly and evenly illuminated from the high-angle programmable fixtures. The houselights dimmed just the right amount when the show got underway. The Music Department has only just begun experimenting with how to orient an instrument to provide the best sound and best sightlines to an audience seated in the round. From four different locations we observed only minor changes in the balance and presence of the lidless and very promising New York Steinway D with Spirio R. It sat on a floor beam which energized the bass from the very resonant, drum-like floor. From the top of the arena, facing the keyboard, the bass felt a bit boomy. Welcoming brightness never rang out with stridence yet nowhere felt deficient either; we noted the most ideal melding of the instrument’s registers when we faced the bent side from the floor. The pianist’s brief talk in a conversational voice projected with adequate amplitude and clarity everywhere. Amplified sound may need the amelioration from the ton of absorbent draperies that were retracted on this occasion. Apparently with the push of a button, they unfold and deploy in about 14 minutes. We measured the reverberation (0 DBA to -60 DBA) at about 1.2 seconds for a balloon pop impulse and 1.5 seconds for a foot stomp.

Last September an MIT undergraduate Andi Qu amusingly blogged [HERE] “In the Music Cubes, no one can hear you scream…the brutalist architecture, the exterior doesn’t exactly scream “art is created inside this space,” but after three long years, I can confirm that art is indeed created inside the Music Cubes.” Read an official account HERE.

Finally MIT has created dedicated an efficient building for music; it’s been one of the very few first-rank universities that hadn’t had such a space. The architectural plan for the Linde Center is understandably insular, devoting most of its volume to offices, laboratories, and rehearsal spaces for the MIT communities rather than concentrating on inviting, expensive-looking amenities for the occasionally welcome public, thus standard commercial finishes obtained in some quarters. SANAA can also design in a different mode. Consider their gloriously sumptuous, organic, and truly contextual Grace Farms Foundation compound in Connecticut [HERE].

According to SANAA architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa:

The new Music Building relocates MIT’s music program to the dynamic and evolving West Campus area and consolidates many of its activities under a single roof.

MIT’s conservatory-level music program is thriving; more than 1,500 students enroll in music courses each year, and the campus is home to a variety of ensembles and chamber groups. Now under construction, the new state-of-the-art Music Building will support the popular program’s current and future needs and curricular requirements.

Designed by SANAA, the brick-clad building has three corresponding volumes – the Performance Hall, the Music Studios, and the Music and Culture Space – connected by a glass-walled lobby providing multiple entrance points that invite people to pass through the airy, open heart of the building. The volumes will house rehearsal and recording spaces as well as a large-scale, purpose-built performance space, all incorporating sound-insulating walls and optimized acoustical design. Several indoor spaces are designed to serve as smaller, informal performance areas as needed, and the outdoor plaza is also configured to host performances. Below grade, a two-level garage will provide approximately 140 parking spaces.

The building is sited within an illustrious context that includes Kresge Auditorium and the MIT Chapel (both designed by Eero Saarinen) and Baker House, designed by Alvar Aalto. In response, its design incorporates strong geometry, red brick, a stand of trees, and a curving curtainwall and roof that complement the iconic surrounding architecture. The outdoor pedestrian walkways will align with the building’s entrances, offering pathways through the building to connect the Johnson Athletic Center, the Zesiger Center, and the Stratton Student Center with nearby student residences. A grove of trees will enhance the site, creating a campus green space that complements the historic Kresge quadrangle.

Designed to advance the vibrancy and diversity of MIT’s evolving West Campus sector, the Music Building was made possible by a cornerstone gift from Joyce Linde, a longtime supporter of MIT and the arts. The project is targeting LEED v4 Gold certification or above.

* Music at MIT and Artfinity Arts Festival present

SONIC JUBILANCE: The Public Opening of the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building
Featuring the MIT composer world premieres of Grace by Charles Shadle, 
Madrigal by Keeril Makan, Two Noble Kinsmen by John Harbison,
and Summit by Miguel Zenón
Saturday, February 15 | 1:00pm on | Building W18

1pm-3:30pm | Open House (no registration needed)
7:30pm | Concert (registration required)

Join MIT Music faculty, staff, and students for the public opening of the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building at MIT. Experience the incredible acoustics of the Thomas Tull Concert Hall while enjoying four MIT composer world premieres: Charles Shadle’s Grace, Keeril Makan’s Madrigal, John Harbison’s Two Noble Kinsmen, and Miguel Zenón’s Summit.

Performances by the MIT Concert Choir and Chamber Chorus, MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble, MIT Jazz Advanced Music Performance Ensemble, MIT Chamber Music Society, MIT Axiom Ensemble, MIT Gamelan Galak Tika, Rambax MIT, and members of the MIT Wind Ensemble all come together for this unique day of sonic celebration. Music of Copland, Ravel, Gonzaga, Bud Powell, Benny Golson, and more will be featured.

Ahead of the concert (1pm-3:30pm) the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building will become an open house of special workshops and short performances to activate and showcase the myriad facets of this thrilling new architectural space. Please see the current schedule of events below:

2pm: Balinese Gamelan Workshop in Music & Culture Space (W18-1202)

Introductory hands-on workshop taught by Gusti Komin. No experience necessary; instruments provided. Limited to the first 25 participants; first come, first served (additional people may observe, space permitting). Children over 12 years old welcome to participate with an adult.

1pm-1:45pm: MIT Chamber Music Performance in W18-4311
1:50pm-2:30pm: MIT Jazz Performance in W18-4311
 2:30-3:30pm: Senegalese Drum Workshop in Music & Culture Space (W18-1202)

Introductory hands-on workshop taught by Lamine Touré. No experience necessary; instruments provided. Limited to the first 25 participants; first come, first served (additional people may observe, space permitting). Children over 12 years old welcome to participate with an adult.
2:30pm-3:30pm: FaMLE (MIT Laptop Ensemble) Performance in Thomas Tull Concert Hall

This celebration is FREE and open to the public and part of the MIT Artfinity Arts Festival.

BMInt Staff pictures below depict from top to bottom, W-18 seen from Kresge, a floor plan, the lobby staricase, the lobby ceiling with Insittute Professor Marcus Thompson,  the gamelan cube, and Tull Hall.