University of Nevada, Reno: University Arts Building

Project Details

Project Description

Long known as a vibrant arts campus, the School of the Arts is the artistic epicenter for the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), encompassing the university’s art, music, theater, and dance departments. Originally designed by renowned Modernist architect Richard Neutra, the Church Fine Arts complex opened in 1962 and has since served as a welcome center for the university’s booming arts scene. As UNR’s student population continued to grow and its arts programs expanded, the building began to present limitations in size and accessibility, prompting the need for a new facility.

In 2017, UNR broke ground on a state-of-the-art facility designed by DLR Group| Westlake Reed Leskosky (DLR Group|WRL) that could respond to rising student enrollment, growing interest in the arts, and provide much needed space for UNR’s new and expanded arts programs. In February 2019, the 42,500-SF University Arts Building officially opened its doors. Positioned in a central location on campus, the new building serves as a home to world-class performances and major exhibitions the entire community can enjoy. Thanks to strong collaboration between designers and university stakeholders, the resulting facility is one that will further the university’s connection to the Reno community, elevate the role of the arts in the region, and positively affect the local economy.

DLR Group|WRL’s integrated team, which included architects; interior designers; electrical engineers; and theater technical, lighting, security, telecom, audiovisual, and acoustics specialists, designed the University Arts Building to create opportunities for learning, collaboration, and partnerships. The new three-story facility features a 287-seat recital hall, museum of art, fabrication lab, electroacoustic composition lab, soundproof rehearsal spaces, music practice rooms, faculty office spaces, and a recording studio.

Engaging the topography of the site, DLR Group|WRL’s design creates an active outdoor plaza that links to campus pedestrian walkways and preserves a large grass hill, the last remaining piece of the university's original football stadium. An elevated walkway connects the original Church Fine Arts building with the new facility, bridging the university’s legacy with its newest chapter of expanded visual and performing arts programs. Upon entering the University Arts Building, visitors are greeted by a multitiered lobby, which connects to the plaza, street, and bridge levels, and serves as a hub and showcase for performance, display, and learning.

The new University Arts Building reinforces UNR’s commitment to showcasing top student and professional performances and exhibitions in music, theater, dance, and the visual arts. DLR Group|WRL designed the interior spaces of the building to the specific needs of UNR’s visual and performing arts programs, incorporating leading-edge theater technical, lighting, audiovisual, and acoustic solutions throughout.

DLR Group|WRL’s design allows for premier acoustic solutions through smart blocking and stacking, separating spaces along the length of the building, and building systems that minimize the impact of background noise. Design for the new recital hall employs seating arrangements that simultaneously fosters enhanced acoustics and flexible teaching configurations. DLR Group|WRL designers modeled the space using sophisticated computer simulation software, allowing for architectural adjustments that would optimize acoustics. The hall’s narrow bowl shape promotes early sound lateral reflections while balancing late-arriving sound reflections elsewhere in the space, creating reverberation and the effect of being developed by sound. Lower wooden walls in the space are designed to be highly diffusive, broadcasting sound in many directions; upper side walls conceal variable acoustic drapery and acoustic diffusive panels. To accommodate a variety of performance needs, the room can be tuned and adjusted for reverb time without altering the warm wood aesthetic. The recital hall’s wraparound balcony affords audiences a unique perspective, and can also provide students closer views of musician hand positions and conductor gestures.

The electroacoustic composition lab (EAC lab), a first-of-its-kind in Nevada, features octophonic sound with eight speakers positioned around the room that can work in unison or function independently to support the creation and performance of music. DLR Group|WRL’s design for the EAC lab is highly flexible, with deeply embedded technology and infrastructure that allow for a wide array of digital music composition, playback, and enhanced cross-discipline collaboration between musicians, and students in video production, visual arts, and engineering. A window into the corridor gives students a chance to see the process live without being in the room, furthering the university’s principle of exposing the arts to a larger audience. The fabrication lab offers a working and display area, the latter of which is bound by glass and juts into the plaza level lobby. Designed as a utilitarian workshop, the fab lab plays a vital role in showcasing what happens in the University’s arts programs in real-time.

DLR Group|WRL’s design for the galleries of the Lilley Museum of Art features atmospheric and security protocols to house and display oversized objects, antique and climate-sensitive artworks, and items of significant value, improving the university’s ability to borrow artwork from collectors and museums, and to show more works from its permanent collection. An extension of the lobby, the museum allows patrons to connect with the art while attending a music performance. Its north-facing position allows abundant daylight to enter the upper level and creates a front porch effect at the lower level. At night, the north-facing window is a beacon of light, illuminating the art objects and giving the effect that the building is glowing with artwork. Design for the interior lighting scheme echoes similar state-of-the-art museums in New York and San Francisco.

DLR Group|WRL’s design focuses on holistic sustainable strategies tailored to the local climate, maximizing the use of natural daylighting and utilizing energy-efficient building systems with the ultimate goal of achieving LEED NC Silver certification. These sustainable solutions have helped achieve a 30 percent reduction from baseline campus buildings, and include energy efficient displacement air distribution, LED lighting systems, low water xeriscape landscape planting, and a cool roof system that reduces heat island effect.


DLR Group acquired Westlake Reed Leskosky in September 2016. Today, the combined design expertise and resources of Westlake Reed Leskosky and DLR Group serve clients as a global, integrated design firm committed to elevating the human experience through design.