FARMINGTON – University of Maine at Farmington’s proposed performing arts center in the heart of the campus will attempt to clear the first hurdle Wednesday, seeking to get a variance from the appeals board.
The Emery Community Arts Center would be located next to the Alumni Theater building, encircling the northern, Academy Street entrance as well as the western side of the popular “black box” styled theater. UMF wants the building, which will be chiefly paid for through a $5 million gift from an anonymous donor, to be built next to the Alumni Theater and Merrill Hall, which contains Nordica Auditorium, to form an “Arts Quad.”
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The construction of the 15,000 square foot facility would be on entirely university-owned property, consisting of the small parking lot on Academy Street and a landscaped area next to Merrill Hall. Thomas House, which was at one time the home for the area’s Head Start program and some of the smaller departments, was torn down in the summer of 2007 to make room for the center.
However, the current plan, which has been developed by DesignLAB Architects of Boston, would require that the new arts center’s eastern wall be built four feet away from land belonging to the Farmington Public Library.
This is a problem, because the town’s statute require 10-foot setbacks within the proposed facility’s Village/Residential zone. So UMF is looking for the appeals board to grant a variance, allowing the set back limitation to be waived.
This is the first of many meetings the university will likely need to go through before they can break ground. Planning board approval is required for construction to begin.
The building itself will consist of two stories, with a glass lobby area which will protect the aging Alumni Theater facade while still allowing people to look in. This sort of arrangement is a specialty of DesignLAB, which has built similar facilities for a number of universities and libraries.
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The center will also contain a 100-seat theater, two multi-purpose studio rooms, a digital studio and possibly a lounge area for art-related discussions. The rooms will be sound-proof so simultaneous rehearsals and performances can be scheduled.
The cost of the facility is expected to be around $7 million. Along with the $5 million donation, which was specifically given to fund an arts center, the university expects to fund the building with a capital campaign. Approval from the University of Maine System Board of Trustees will be sought at the September meeting, and then UMF will look to get approval to start construction from the Farmington Planning Board.
The center represents months of work by a committee of representatives from the Sandy River Players theater group and the Arts Institute, along with UMF president, Theodora Kalikow; Mary Sylvester, UMF’s director of advancement; UMF’s communications director Jennifer Eriksen, UMF’s facilities manager Bob Lawrence and senior UMF student Meghan Dzwak, a student in music and visual arts. The group has been meeting since the first of the year.
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If it is just a glass lobby area that is too close to the library, why can’t the lobby be made in smaller proportions?
It seems a shame to lose walking access to the library from that direction, as well as the art of the library’s architecture for a glass lobby. Being able to save the visual of the theatre is one thing, but lets not forget our beautiful library next door. Barb Marshall
Although not opposed to the ECAC, the architect’s use of glass does not reflect Farmington’s historic district of stately homes and beautiful brick store fronts. Cutler Memorial Library and Merrill Hall (granite, copper, and brick) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A 2-story glass building, in a historic district just does not recognize Farmington’s heritage. Placed in front of the Alumni Theatre (brick and granite) the glass does not have any harmony with surrounding buildings.
By creating a drop off and pick up area in the current parking area behind Merrill Hall, there will be more traffic, which will bottle neck the traffic on Academy St. There is already a “difficult corner” with the turning traffic from Middle, High and Academy St.s, as well as a narrow driving lane, due to the parking along one side of Academy.
Everyone in the community is proud of Farmington’s history, the historic district and buildings. Lets create harmony between old and new. Taffy Davis
I like the design. Flat roofs are kind of impractical in Maine; for example, the dining hall’s ceiling always looks like it’s caving in and buckets have to be placed to catch water leaking from the several feet of melting snow. With that said, I like the flat roofs of UMF. They looked “modern” when Mallett was built a century ago, they looked “modern” when the library went up a few decades later, and now they look, well, modern.