UCSC MUSIC CENTER FACTS AND FIGURES -----------------------------------------------------

OVERVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION

* Construction will start during the month of November on the Music Center--a new facility at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The facility is located on a four-acre site southwest of the Student Center, overlooking the Great Meadow. The Music Center will house the Music Department, which currently shares space with the Theater Arts Board in the Performing Arts complex. * The Campus Physical Planning Committee selected the site in the fall of 1990 after concluding a series of public workshops and meetings on site locations.

* Construction will take place in two phases. Phase 1 includes a 400-seat recital hall, rehearsal space, instructional laboratories, teaching studios, and practice rooms, with the larger spaces dedicated both to music and public performance activities. Construction on Phase 1 will begin in November 1994 and is scheduled for completion in spring 1996. If funding is approved, construction of an addition will follow immediately. The addition will include a gamelan room, an electronic music studio, faculty office-studios, Music Department offices, and support space. * During construction, an increase in truck traffic and noise can be expected in the vicinity of Baskin Visual Arts, the Student Center, and University House. In order to avoid disruption of bike traffic, the bike path has been rerouted around the site. * The contractor for the construction of Phase 1 is Lewis C. Nelson and Sons, Inc., of Selma, Calif. VALUE TO THE CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY -- * A 1988-89 study on campus space needs found that the space assigned for music studies served only 59 percent of the department's actual needs. The study, based on state guidelines for the square footage needed per student, projected that the current space would meet less than 42 percent of the Music Department's needs by 1996-97. The completed facility will provide necessary space for overcrowded students, faculty, and staff.

* The new space will increase UCSC's capacity for presenting public performances--providing students with greater opportunities for gaining performance experience and enriching the cultural life of the community. DESIGN

* The Music Center was designed by Antoine Predock of Albuquerque, a world-renowned architect who has designed other facilities for UC at Davis, UCLA, and San Diego, as well as an acclaimed Fine Arts Center at Arizona State University.

* The 38,000-square-foot project features several distinct elements, organized around inner courtyards and a public entry plaza opening to magnificent views of downtown Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay. A low-profile design preserves those same views from the Performing Arts and Baskin Visual Arts complexes. The one large oak on the site will remain as a focal point in the complex. * Plans for recital halls, recording studios, and practice rooms have been individually designed to produce the best acoustics possible for specific instruments and performance groups. The exterior will be composed of cast-in-place concrete and textured concrete masonry colored light tan to blend with the summer grasses of the surrounding meadow.

* The total project cost for the Music Center, Phase 1 and the addition, is $16.9 million. The project cost for Phase 1 is $13.6 million. The project is being built with state funds, approved as part of the 1990-95 Capital Improvement Program.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

Campus planners prepared an environmental impact report (EIR) in 1991. The following steps are being taken in response to the EIR:

* Important plant species were transplanted from the project site in 1993 and are being protected under an approved management plan.

* The project will include a landscaped retention basin to slow peak stormwater flows from impermeable surfaces.

* During construction, project managers will implement and monitor an erosion-control plan. At the end of construction, any disturbed areas in or adjacent to the meadow will be reseeded and restored to their natural state.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

* The Music Center "shows just how good a building can be when it makes the most of a natural setting . . . . If even one in every ten new South Bay buildings were as good as this music building, our region would become a veritable garden of delights."

--Alan Hess, architecture critic San Jose Mercury News, August 1, 1993

----------------- This information is provided by UCSC's Division of the Arts and Business and Administrative Services. An artist's rendering of the Music Center will be on display at the site throughout construction.

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