Tina Fischer
Mason Consigli, far left, and Emerson Dolby, left, give a tour of the central gallery, under construction in the Crewe Center for the Arts.
3 hours ago
First look at USM's future Crewe Center for the Arts
Provided RENDERING / UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE
The Crewe Center for the Arts, at USM’s Portland campus, is due to be completed for the fall 2025 semester.
Mainebiz got an inside look this week at the expansive Crewe Center for the Arts, currently under construction on the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus.
We joined an interiors tour with dozens of architects and got a thorough introduction to the $63 million, 43,000-square-foot building’s high-tech systems, and what the designers touted as innovative finishes and thoughtful functionality.
The center will be the new home of the university’s Dr. Alfred and D. Suzi Osher School of Music, and will provide accessible, state-of-the-art classrooms and performing spaces for students and faculty, as well as for arts and cultural organizations and K-12 schools in southern Maine.
The center is on target to open for the fall semester.
Emerson Dolby, project manager at the Portland office of Consigli Construction, took us through the center’s 200-seat performance hall, art gallery and visual arts studio, all of which are designed for optimal acoustics.
Tina Fischer
Osher School Director Kyle Nielsen stands outside of the center's Deering Avenue entrance.
“Every space in the Crewe Center is built to be multifunctional and serve multiple needs of our music students,” said Kyle Nielsen, director of the Osher School of Music. “The performance hall is a perfect representation of this. It’s the ideal size for our students to experience world class acoustics in an environment where they’re empowered to take risks and develop not just their technique but their artistry.”
The center honors the late Bob Crewe, the songwriter behind many of the Four Seasons’ biggest hits, and his brother, manager and philanthropist Daniel Crewe. Bob Crewe wrote or co-wrote "Can't Take My Eyes off You," "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Rag Doll."
The Crewe Foundation donated more than $6 million to the project cost, which will total $63 million.
The facility was designed by Pfeiffer Studio/Perkins Eastman Architect’s Los Angeles office, with Thomas Chan as lead, and Biddeford-based Oak Point Associates.
Design details
The Crewe Center is on the Deering Avenue end of the USM campus, opposite the former Maine Law building.
There will be 23 practice rooms along with a piano lab, and plans call for outdoor performance spaces and a sculpture garden. Student and visitor comforts have been considered with many of the floors being built to be resilient for dancers; some are wired for radiant heat. Tall windows enlighten every room and are bird safe too, with patterned glass. Dolby noted the building is expected to meet LEED Silver certification.
Visually the building is stunning, inside and out. The 145-foot central gallery is especially striking with oversized windows and a soaring ceiling laced with mass timber glu-lam beams, a signature feature in several of Consigli’s projects.
An additional design detail, which reflects the arts focus of the building and is sure to delight passersby, is the exterior composite metal cladding, Alucobond, which appears to be grey but then subtly shifts with the temperature and light into a range of soft, iridescent colors.
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