Concordia University’s 37,500-square-foot Borland-Manske Center opens with a WSDG-designed recording, teaching and rehearsal space.
Irvine, CA — The new $35M Borland-Manske Center at Concordia University Irvine (CUI) features a WSDG Walters-Storyk Design Group-designed recording studio and teaching facility anchored by a new 32-channel Rupert Neve Designs 5088 console.
Housed within the campus’s new 37,500-square-foot Borland-Manske Center, the 1,110-square-foot complex houses a recording, teaching and rehearsal space. WSDG COO/project manager Joshua Morris reports that the firm also designed the acoustics for Concordia’s new Borland-Manske Center and that WSDG systems design engineer Judy Elliot Brown and project engineer Andy Swerdlow also played key roles in the project.
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“CUI’s new Borland-Manaske Center was a particularly ambitious assignment,” Morris says. “The main floor houses a 2,250-square-foot orchestra hall, a 1,900-square-foot choral rehearsal hall, a percussion room and a piano instruction room. The lower floor features an 820-square-foot live recording room with three isolation booths, a 290-square-foot control room, a spacious 835-square-foot classroom, nine practice rooms, an open office suite, faculty offices, an event space, conference and breakout rooms.
“The studio is linked to the orchestral and choral rehearsal rooms, allowing multiple ensembles to record simultaneously. The top floor accommodates practice rooms, and faculty studios for special practice and instructional tutorials,” Morris concludes.
The new recording facility is available to choral and instrumental ensembles, along with students in the music department’s newest major, Commercial Music. The curriculum is designed to prepare students for careers in musical performance, songwriting, composing for media (TV, film and gaming) and music production. Concordia’s music program offers a Bachelor of Arts degree for music majors with concentrations in commercial music, composition, church music, music education, instrumental, piano and vocal performance.
Bauer Architects of Newport Beach, CA provided overall design for the three-level Borland-Manske Center. Construction was completed by Irvine-based Snyder Langston and AV integration was provided by Procraft.
“Concordia University Irvine’s new audio education and production complex represents the epitome of contemporary audio education and production planning,” remarks WSDG founding partner John Storyk. “Our design engineers engaged acoustic modeling, measurement and instrumentation tests and programs to predict and pre-tune the acoustics and auralization throughout the building. We are confident that this facility will play a significant role in preparing the next generation of educators, musicians, recording artists and production professionals for 21st Century careers.”
