Adelphi University

Formed by the renovation and expansion of two historic campus buildings, Adelphi University’s Centers for Sport and Performing Arts consolidates previously dispersed academic departments and enlivens the campus’s east side through the creation of a vibrant quadrangle. The 120,000 sf eastern building, consisting of Woodruff Hall, one of the campus’s original three buildings designed by McKim Mead and White, and a 65,000 sf addition, houses athletics, recreation, and health and physical education. Theater, dance, and music departments occupy the western building, formed by the existing 350-seat Olmsted Theater and a 50,000 sf addition. The university is seeking LEED Silver certification for the project.

The renovated Woodruff Hall hosts recreation facilities and offices, labs, faculty offices, classrooms, and a pool. A new glass lobby attached to Woodruff Hall’s south side is the primary entry for the expanded building, with views of three levels of athletic spaces as well as the quadrangle, a nearby golf course, and the second-floor Panther Lounge. A below-grade three-court gymnasium with retractable bleacher seating for 2,400 allows an at-grade jogging track to be used as an events concourse during sporting events.

In the performing arts building, new music spaces include practice rooms, teaching studios, classrooms, digital and electronic music laboratories, an orchestral rehearsal hall doubling as a small recital venue, and a 500-seat multiuse auditorium. Theater programs enjoy expanded technical support space around Olmsted Theater as well as a suite of departmental offices and a black-box theater. Dance receives new departmental offices, changing space, and four large studios; two adjacent studios are double-height and convertible to a 200-seat performance venue with full technical support.