Rockefeller Arts Center at SUNY Fredonia
Designed by the architectural firm I.M. Pei and Partners and built in 1969, the Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center is a major cultural center for western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. The Rockefeller Arts Center showcases talented students and faculty in Fredonia’s exceptional arts program and serves as a venue for national and international touring artists. Annual attendance exceeds 43,000 people across 150 dynamic events in its approximately 120,000 square foot home for the arts.
The Center houses a 1,200-seat concert hall, three theaters and two art galleries, classrooms, rehearsal halls, dressing rooms, scenery development, costume shops, new digital design labs and drafting studios for the Department of Theatre and Dance and the Department of Visual Arts and New Media, the Marvel Theatre, café, and administrative offices.
Working in collaboration with Deborah Berke Partners and New York’s State University Construction Fund, Two Twelve drew from the dramatic reconceiving of the original I.M. Pei arts complex and Deborah Berke Partners’ recent renovation and expansion. Inspired by the building’s rich history, Two Twelve developed a creative solution to integrate the Center’s architectural signage with its donor recognition signage.
Accessed via multiple entrances at varying levels, the Rockefeller Arts Center signage program required thoughtful consideration of how this architectural feature effects circulation patterns. On the ground floor, adjacent to the public entrance and cafe, is a multi-purpose room that serves as a classroom by day and as a place for pre-concert talks and post-performance receptions in the evening. It also houses large art studios for multi-scaled, three-dimensional creations. The result is a wayfinding program that respects architectural forms while supporting students, performers, and visitors who have differing journeys and points of entry.
Education, Sports, Arts and Entertainment, Wayfinding Systems
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State University Construction Fund
Deborah Berke Partners Architects LLP
Fredonia, NY, USA