Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA

Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Exterior Photography, FacadeMarlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Exterior Photography, Facade, Windows, GardenMarlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Interior Photography, Windows, BeamMarlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Interior Photography, Closet, Wood, Shelving, Beam, ChairMarlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - More Images+ 20

  • Sr Project Architect: John Cook, Beth Kalin
  • Project Designer: David Wilson
  • Design Coordinator: James Kehl
  • Principal: Dan Avchen
  • Interior Design: Ariane Laxo, Natalie Rethlake
  • Signage Design: Natalie Rethlake
  • Structural: Tony Staeger
  • Mechanical: Joe Wolfgang, Kevin Lynn
  • Electrical: Joe Wetternach, Aaron Hillstead, Adam Martini
  • Specifications: Robert Johnson Miller
  • Landscape Architect: Brit Erenler
  • Lighting Designer: Nina Italiano
  • City: Marlboro
  • Country: United States
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Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto

Text description provided by the architects. Since 1951, generations of the world’s highly renowned musical masters have come together with exceptional young musicians to participate in Marlboro Music, a seven-week festival tucked among Vermont’s Green Mountains at Marlboro College. Musicians learn not through lectures or traditional classwork, but by playing together daily in intensive, intimate rehearsals.

Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Exterior Photography, Facade, Windows, Garden
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto
Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Exterior Photography, Facade, Windows
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto

The college’s idyllic campus is comprised of retrofitted farm buildings that are exemplars of 400-year-old Cape Cod vernacular. Over the last seventy years, these aging farm buildings have become less-than-ideal environments for chamber music. Driven to meet the needs of 21st-century musicians, the new Reich Rehearsal Hall's design remains true to Marlboro's spirit while providing modern performance space, staff offices, a state-of-the-art music library archive, and gathering spaces. 

Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Exterior Photography, Windows, Forest, Garden
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto
Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto

A series of 3 rehearsal rooms and the archive library is connected with gathering spaces and are orchestrated around a central courtyard - composing an experience of compression and release. The humble ceiling heights of the lobby spaces allow the full volumes of the rehearsal rooms to soar. Each interior space was designed with dual use in mind: supporting rehearsals in the summer, and classes, lectures, and meetings during the school year.

Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Image 21 of 25
Plan - First floor

The palette gently pulls the Vermont landscape indoors, with textures and colors inspired by its flora and fauna; carefully placed windows further this harmonious connection with the surrounding landscape – celebrating the intrinsic relationship between music and nature. With a goal to tread lightly on the land, the building’s mass is balanced between two levels of a steeply sloped site, resulting in fully accessible entrances and grounds on both floors.

Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Interior Photography, Windows, Beam
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto
Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Interior Photography, Windows, Chair
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto

Reich Hall relies on various sustainability strategies to continue Marlboro’s environmental stewardship, resulting in sustainable buildings starting with their initial design to the intended longevity. Despite the exceedingly low-tech appearance of the new building, behind the scenes is a sophisticated strategy that includes LED lighting, a passive solar gains strategy, a green roof that can be enjoyed as an outdoor terrace for events, and operable windows providing natural light, ventilation, and thermal control.

Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Interior Photography, Closet, Shelving, Windows, Beam
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto
Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Interior Photography, Column, Windows, Beam
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto

An energy-efficient geothermal well field serves water-to-water heat pumps located in the adjacent Residence Hall and shared with Reich Hall. These units provide both chilled and hot water simultaneously as required by the radiant floor and fan coil systems. Water use for primary heating and cooling greatly increases the performance capacity, reducing the transportation energy required. Marlboro Music’s singular process has led to music-making infused with uncommon joy and renewed spirit. The new Reich Rehearsal Hall ensures that art has a home in which to thrive for generations to come.

Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA - Exterior Photography, Windows
© Albert Vecerka/ Esto

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Project location

Address:Marlboro, Vermont, United States

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
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Cite: "Marlboro Music Reich Rehearsal Building & Music Library / HGA" 20 Jan 2023. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/995205/marlboro-music-reich-rehearsal-building-and-music-library-hga> ISSN 0719-8884

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