New Wilson Hall Creates ‘Village Of The Arts' At W&L

By Kit Huffman
Reprinted with permission
Lexington News-Gazette, September 27, 2006

Washington and Lee students taking classes in art and music this fall are turning away from duPont Hall and Howe Annex, the college's former art and music hubs, and heading in the opposite direction, south over the renovated railroad-turned pedestrian bridge over Nelson Street.

After crossing the bridge, a safer method than scampering across U.S. 60, the students find themselves in a different world, one entirely devoted to the arts.

The new John and Anne Wilson Hall, which adjoins the Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest Hall, was open for the first day of classes, Sept. 7. Though not completely finished - a punch list of final details remains to be checked off - the building is a major addition to the university's facilities.

Housing both music and the visual arts, including for the first time photography, the Wilson Hall also holds a 300-seat concert hall, a space designed both for works-in-progress and finished performances.

Together with the 15-year-old Lenfest Hall, which houses theater and dance, the two buildings shelter a wide range of subjects in what one music professor joyfully called "a village of the arts."

We haven't yet begun to understand all the implication of the new facility," reflected university architect Tom Contos recently. However, one outcome of the new building is certain. The building, a state-of-the-art facility with three times the space of duPont, will bring "growth and strengthening" of the college's arts program.

The John and Anne Wilson Hall will be dedicated on Friday, Oct. 27, during the fall meeting of the board of trustees. The ceremony will feature the unveiling and debut of original works of by W&L faculty: a painting by Kathleen Olson-Janjic, a sculpture by art professor Larry M. Stene and a musical piece by Terry Vosbein.

Named For A President

The lead gift for Wilson Hall, which cost $24 million, was made by Lenfest, W&L class of 1953, also the major donor for Lenfest Hall, which until now had been called the Lenfest Center for the Performing Arts. In making his gift, Lenfest insisted on naming the new building for John Wilson, a former - and very much alive - university president and his wife.

"It was overpowering at first, but I finally got used to the idea," said Wilson recently, when asked how it felt to have a building named after him. "It seemed unwarranted and undeserved. I still think it should have been done posthumously."

However, Wilson, who, with his wife, lives in Lexington, admitted that he was "very pleased to have Anne's and my association with an institution we so admire recognized in some way. The arts are an important part of life and our culture in America."
Wilson said that each generation, here and around the world, undergoes a painful struggle to secure a place for the arts. Wilson Hall, he hoped, would allow the university to "contribute to the enhancement of the arts" in the United States.

Wilson, who had been inside the building only once, was "very taken with it." He said the Woods Creek side of the building is "quite impressive," and the front side "not as architecturally stimulating - though it has our names on it."

Street-Side, Creek-Side

Wilson Hall was designed by Zimmer Gunsul and Frasca and constructed by Brice Building Co. of Birmingham, Ala. The construction company is headed by Felix Drennan III, W&L class of 1973.

Like the Greek god Janus, the 65,000-square-foot building presents two faces to the world: a red-brick, post-modern exterior with classical details, contrasting with an austerely modern glass-and-chrome interior.

The street-side face of Wilson Hall has two sections, one to the south along McLaughlin Street and the other to the north, on Glasgow Street. The McLaughlin Street section is a large, rather plain block featuring two rows of rectangular windows for music offices and practice rooms. This section is quietly decorated with brick pilasters, in a nod to the columns so prevalent on the rest of campus.

The northern, or Glasgow Street, section borders the fan-shaped parking area in front of Lenfest Hall and shares doorways and a wall with Lenfest. This part of the exterior features five decorative, though blankly curtained, Palladian windows, bordered by a stone band bearing the name of the Wilsons etched in block letters.

An ornamental rooftop railing adds a decorative frill to the façade, drawing the eye away from the plainness of the McLaughlin Street section.

The west, or creek-side, face of the building gives a different impression altogether. Here, as seen from the Woods Creek Trail, the building looks unabashedly modern, with its central section of glass and a glass-sided staircase on the southwest corner. This, clearly, is the more striking face of Wilson Hall.

Like so many structures in Rockbridge County, the building is dug into a steep hillside, making for an initially confusing configuration of levels.

For example, those entering from McLaughlin Street walk directly onto the third floor, with two full floors below them on land sloping down to Woods Creek. Those entering from the "fan" parking lot in front of Lenfest, however, find themselves on the second, or concert hall, level. The second floor is also that of a three-story atrium and the Stanier Art Gallery, which is accessible both by steps and a gradually sloping wooden ramp.

First Glimpse

On the first day of classes, art history professor Pamela Simpson looked up from her computer screen in her third-floor office, a generously windowed aerie overlooking Woods Creek and the leafy trees beyond.

"I love my office!" she exclaimed, bubbling with enthusiasm. Though she'd just moved in three weeks before, the room was already cozy with shelves filled with colorful books and posters and paintings on the walls.

"Of course, I get this office because I'm chair of the art department," Simpson added with a chuckle.

In half an hour, she would need to go teach her first class of the year, but before that she offered a quick tour of the building.
Introducing the building as a home for both art and music, Simpson began by noting that the two subjects are taught on two different sides of the building, with some shared spaces. The division makes sense for engineering, and even environmental reasons, she explained with a smile.

"The music side is acoustically filtered to optimize and contain sound, whereas the art side is dirty and smelly, so we have a special exhaust system to get rid of the fumes. The idea is that now all the arts are together, with theater next door at the Lenfest Center. We're hopping to forge even stronger ties to collaborate among the arts."

Far below her window, rain-garden ponds formed part of the landscaping between the building and Woods Creek. As Simpson remarked, the ponds "have the potential to be ornamental," even though they really were created to filter runoff before the water enters the creek.

"After W&L bought the site, they found they couldn't build on part of it because the flood plain regulations had changed, so they could only build on one small section of the land," she recalled. "That was one reason it was so important that the train station be moved. We still have that [the station] - and it's in better shape than ever."

At present, the construction team for Wilson Hall is still using the train station for its headquarters. Though many suggestions have been made about future use of the train station, including community meeting rooms, nothing yet has been resolved, Simpson said.

As for duPont Hall, the former art and music building, it's already been turned into spillover classroom and office space. The longterm plan is for the hall to be available as "swing space" during the planned renovation of the Colonnade. This will take place no sooner than 2008.

Leaving her office, Simpson turned left down a short hall, with doors leading to other art faculty offices and a technologically outfitted audio-visual room.

"We never had this before," she said of the room, with its flotilla of flat-screen computers, screen-savers moving moodily over untapped keyboards.

Simpson then led the way back down the hall overlooking the atrium - "We call this the aquarium," she joked about the glass-walled space - and on to other third-floor facilities, including a computer lab for teaching graphic design, another first for the department, and print-making and drawing studios. "Look out here; it's beautiful," she exclaimed of the drawing studio, with its spectacular view of Woods Creek and its highly desirable, northern, or indirect, light.

Across the hall, on the "music side" of the building, are practice rooms and hallways lined with lockers, like some of the floors also made of pale blonde wood.

In the elevator, itself ample and well-lit, with a showy glass ceiling, Simpson greeted music instructor Jerry Myers.

"What's your 30-second take on the new building?" she asked, putting him on the spot.

The choral director didn't hesitate. "One thousand percent better than duPont Hall," he said, as the door opened on the fourth floor.

Here are more art studios, one to be used just by for art majors for their senior projects, and music offices, including that of Tim Gaylard, chairman of the department.

"It's really exciting. We're a long way from DuPont," the professor said, sitting down at one of the two grand pianos in his office and playing a glorious snatch of Liszt. "I'm really looking forward to the use of the building."

Music professor Gordon Spice, encountered near his office, was equally keen on the new facility.

"Part of my job is interviewing prospective students and their parents," he said. Wilson Hall, with "lots and lots" of practice rooms and practice space for the university wind ensemble, chorus and orchestra, should attract many more music majors. "I'm looking forward to my first set of parents," he added.

"The whole idea was to create a village of the arts here," Spice noted, turning into the office of his son, Graham Spice, newly hired as an audio-engineer and as a resource for the faculty. "It's very exciting. Very energizing."

The younger Spice, who worked in Nashville for 15 years as a recording engineer, was particularly enthusiastic about the concert hall, "one of the best places to record in Virginia."

‘Before we had this building, art had an embarrassing paucity of resources. Now we have these beautiful spaces, and our classes are as full as they let us have them.'
- Pam Simpson

Walking down two flights to the second floor, Simpson unlocked the door to a seminar room, around whose long, pale, oval table the classroom's first students would soon gather. The technologically-equipped classroom is just one of several on that level, all "smart" classrooms fitted with panels to improve acoustics for speaking. One classroom, used for both art and music, has three blackboards on sliding panels. One board is white, for slides; one is a standard blackboard, for writing; and the third is stamped with staff lines for musical notation. One large classroom, Simpson explained, is also intended as a "green room" to prepare for musical performances.

"Before we had this building, art had an embarrassing paucity of resources," the art professor remarked. "Now we have these beautiful spaces, and our classes are as full as they let us have them."

Last year, there were 50 art majors, but art classes were also filled with non-majors, she said. "We teach some 360 students a year, and there are wait lists for almost every class we offer."

In addition, "hundreds" of non-music majors participate in the university's music programs, she said.

After leading the way down to the first floor, Simpson hurried off to her first class, leaving the reporter in the realm of sculpture, wood and metal shops, all leading onto an outdoor terrace, and photography studios, including two darkrooms with revolving doors.

"Everything's in progress," said art professor Larry Stene, waving in the direction of silent welding equipment. "There's no readiness yet."

Though frustrated by construction glitches - classes were to be held by day, with builders continuing their work by night - Stene said that the focus should stay on the "generosity" of the donors and on those for whom the building is named.
"It was in President John Wilson's tenure that we got the Lenfest Center, and Wilson Hall follows on the heels of the Lenfest," he pointed out. "John Wilson provided a long and stable period of time when we could grow."

Stene was also appreciative of the new photography department, located over the former home of renowned photographer Sally Mann. Noting that Robert E. Lee had wanted to hire a photography professor in 1865, he said, "That didn't happen until 2006, after we launched a national search and hired one. Now we have the building, studios, photography. It took that long."
Down the hall from Stene's studios, Christa Bowden, W&L's first full-time photography professor, intends to "develop - no pun intended," as she said - a new program, teaching traditional black-and-white, film and darkroom-based photography.
For Bowden, who earned a bachelor's degree in photo and film communication from Tulane University and a master of fine arts degree in photography from the University of Georgia, the traditional aspect of the budding photography program is one of the reasons she took the W&L job.

"I'm a huge fan of digital, but this is how people learn," she said. "Everything is a step process. We will take the time to develop film and make a contact sheet. The process is labor-intensive, allowing students to work with exposure and composition and to evaluate the results."

Showing a reporter through one of two darkrooms, complete with revolving doors to keep out the light, she commented, "We've all heard about the lack of light. I'm about the opposite."

This term, she's offering two sections of Photography 1, with 12 in each section. Next term, she'll offer Photography 1 and 2, and, for spring term, a special topics course. Already, her class was full, with a waiting list of 30.

Meanwhile, Patrick Hinely, who previously taught photography in a classroom in the student center, will continue as university photographer.

A Tunable Space

Back on the second floor, Carole Bailey, a construction administrator with facilities management, was seen checking punch-list items in the various classrooms. Leaving her list for a moment, she walked into the second-floor concert hall, then being readied for its first performance, a faculty recital of Mozart in honor of Rob Stewart, first professor of music at W&L.
Still hard at work in the concert hall were employees of Texas Scenic Co. out of San Antonio. Workers were hanging heavy velour "banners" on the walls and four velour "sails" between the catwalks. Adjusted by motors which make the fabric go up or down, the curtains create "tunable" acoustics to match individual conditions and performances. The concert hall is also fitted with a sound system for high-quality recording.

With a large, empty floor between the stage and rows of gently sloping seats, the hall is designed for "flexibility," explained Bailey. For example, the floor, without chairs, can be left empty for chorus members who may want to practice while the stage is full of instruments. The flat space may also be filled with chairs for additional seating during a concert.
When the free-standing chairs are used, the concert hall seats 300.

A Regional Arts Center

"The concept is one large facility," said Lenfest director Rob Mish, speaking in his Lenfest office, one story above the main entrance to the Keller Theatre.

Mish noted that the two buildings, Wilson and Lenfest halls, are united under the Lenfest Center for the Arts, the word "performing" having been removed from the Lenfest's moniker.

In a fitting touch, the metal letters formerly spelling "performing" now hang on the Mish's office wall.

Opening the colorful brochure for this year's "A Season of Celebration" at the Lenfest, Mish said that the new concert hall venue at Wilson Hall had freed up space in Lenfest's Keller Theatre, allowing him to schedule two major theater department productions there. The department will also be able to take on new teaching in the Keller Theatre, he said.

However, even with the new concert hall, all Lenfest venues are fully booked for 2006-07, said Mish, who monitors the calendars of the three spaces, the Keller and Johnson theaters and the new concert hall.

"We thought the new concert hall would free up space, but it hasn't happened that way," he said. Indeed, the venues are so full that W&L will return this year to the old Troubadour Theater on Henry Street, where student and foreign language theater groups will stage their productions.

Mish, who is also teaching two sections of Acting 1 this term, was well pleased with the year's Lenfest offerings.
"This part of Virginia looks to the Lenfest Center as a leader in the arts, primarily in what outside presenters bring to the schools," he said.

For example, a program might come to W&L and then, already in the region, also come to nearby venues during the same period. This occurred with Neil Berg's "100 Years of Broadway" group, which was booked by James Madison University in Harrisonburg after agreeing to perform at W&L.

Not only are all venues fully booked, but two series are also sold out. Tickets are fully reserved for the Lenfest Series, where two of six events are sold out, and the Concert Guild, where one of three events is sold out. In the Lenfest Series, quickly snapped up were tickets to the Koresh Dance Company on Oct. 5 and Neil Berg's "100 Years of Broadway" on Jan 17. In the Concert Guild Series, Chanticleer, to perform Oct. 3, is sold out. For other events in the series, some tickets will become available six weeks before performances.

With bookings so full, Mish warned that, for the first time, the center's 24-hour ticket pickup policy will be strictly adhered to. However, tickets may be ordered on-line, and those buying tickets may print e-tickets, making an advance trip to the box office unnecessary.

Mish also warned that tickets for seats remaining empty 10 minutes to curtain time will be sold to those in a waiting line. No refunds for unused tickets will be given.

"I hope your readers appreciate what we have here," said Mish. "These entertainments are offered at such reasonable prices. As a native of Lexington, I can say this."

With so many different "acts" brought to the Lenfest, there is one kind of production he can't bring to the Lenfest: the Broadway show. "They're too expensive," he said. "You'd need a 1,200-seat house to make it cost-effective."

Community members attending performances at Lenfest or Wilson Hall may park in the university parking garage and take the elevator to arrive on the third level for access to the pedestrian bridge, pushing "L" for Lenfest. Those with handicaps may use the parking lot off Nelson Street next to the Lenfest, and, once inside, take elevators to the appropriate level.