Design award goes to new sound recording studios

The sound recording studio and control room at SUNY Fredonia’s School of Music has earned an award from the regional American Institute of Architects chapter for Architectural Resources, P.C., designer of the space.

Architectural Resources, based in Buffalo, received a 2007 Merit Award from the Buffalo/Western New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects for the studio and control room located on the second floor of the Mason Hall addition which also includes the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall.

A juror who evaluated entries cited research that went into sound isolation, diffusion, and reflection that resulted in “acoustic strategies that were carefully used as a basis for a convincing and well executed design … The resulting environment is both evocative of the seminal activity and at the same time an elegant expression of it.”

The $612,000 studio, hailed as a state-of-the-art facility when it opened in January, was a collaborative effort of designers, contractors, SUNY Fredonia educators and audio professionals. It was designed to inspire confidence in students and professionals, and is completely free of all noise, including infrastructure such as ventilation and lighting, as well as from activity in adjoining Mason Hall. The facility consists of a control room, two rooms for live performances, and an equipment room that contains new supporting mechanical and electronic systems.

The studio serves SUNY Fredonia’s Bachelor’s of Science degree in Sound Recording Technology, one of a handful of undergraduate programs in that specialty offered in the United States.