This project was about preserving an iconic modern building on Swarthmore College’s campus by enhancing it's usefulness and relevance without altering what makes the building great.

The Lang Music Building was designed by Mitchell Giurgola Architects and was completed in 1974, and it's been a beloved structure on the campus ever since. Constructed largely of cast-in-place concrete, it presents typical difficulties of nearly historic modern buildings – it's hard, tightly designed, difficult to adjust, and beautiful as it is.

It was the first building in Swarthmore’s Arts Masterplan whose aim was to elevate the study of art as a proper and important element in a liberal arts education. The site selected for the building was a steeply sloping, heavily wooded site at the edge of Swarthmore’s arboretum, the Crum Woods. The program combines performance and academic spaces including a 450 seat Recital Hall, the Presser Choral Rehearsal Room, Music Library, Practice Rooms, and Faculty Offices.

Fifty years on, expectations for the building have changed. The many goals for this project collectively made it more accessible, safer, more welcoming and comfortable, able to foster inclusivity and embrace diverse programming, and finally able to support performances at a higher level – modern once again.

The specific brief for this project was multi-faceted – replace the HVAC systems to provide better occupant comfort, improved acoustics, better efficiency, and to prepare to connect to the College’s campus-wide, ground-coupled heating system; remove barriers for persons with physical and age-related disabilities particularly with regard to access and restroom accommodation; improve the means of egress; improve the utilization of the Presser Rehearsal Hall by maximizing floor and storage space, acoustically isolating the room from the rest of the building, providing diverse acoustical settings for different ensembles, and providing natural light.

The most visible aspects of the effort included the complete demolition of the Presser Rehearsal Room down to dirt and its redesign as an acoustically flexible, light-filled space and the intervention of an accessible ramp from the Main Lobby to a primary entrance to the Recital Hall. Systems replacement and acoustical improvements were accomplished without visible effect.