have come in for , prompting owner Birmingham City University to respond. Here, gives eight reasons to love the new building
Soon after the opening of the new Library of Birmingham, I overheard this conversation in Brindleyplace:
鈥淲hat you think of that new library then?鈥
Shrug.
Sniff.
鈥淚 was bit underwhelmed, really.鈥
I was reminded of that exchange when I read some of the comments on the design of the new Birmingham Conservatoire. As Malala Yousafzai said of the library, it鈥檚 what happens on the inside that counts.
Look at Symphony Hall. We鈥檙e proud of it not for what it looks like, but how it works and 鈥 especially 鈥 how it sounds. It鈥檚 the equal of any concert hall on the planet.
So, here are eight reasons why the new Birmingham Conservatoire is, from the inside out, such a huge improvement on anything the city has had before:
1. It will have twice the number of performance spaces as the current building. As well as replacements for the Adrian Boult Hall and the Recital Hall, there will be a specialist jazz venue: the first in Birmingham since Ronnie Scott鈥檚 closed on Broad Street. Then there鈥檚 the experimental performance space, a black box that will take small-scale live action, music and media. This will support the brilliant work being done by our composition department, which has won recent accolades for its staff and students in BBC Music Magazine and The Sunday Times.
2. The new concert halls will have a much higher degree of acoustic treatment, to help coax the best sounds from our young musicians.
3. The corridor acoustics will be far better too. It鈥檚 nice to visit the current Conservatoire and hear a trombone booming from one room and a piano sounding heights of rapture from another, but not if you鈥檙e trying to practise the harp between the two.
4. There will be a much bigger live room for recording, to take larger ensembles.
5. The recording studios will be of a much higher specification. We鈥檝e been advised on these by one the country鈥檚 leading experts.
6. There are more private practice rooms. That may not mean a lot to some readers, but it鈥檚 vital for students.
7. A specialist suite of chamber music rooms will be double-height for improved acoustics. Our strings provision is flourishing, with world-renowned Professors of Violin, Viola and Cello. Recently we hosted an International Viola Competition which drew contestants from across the world.
8. The whole building will be fully digitised and linked to the University鈥檚 spectacular suite of Media facilities, creating the technological environment students need for 21st century music education and enterprise. No other 海角视频 conservatoire, Royal or not, will have such advantages.
This building will be the pride of the city. Visit the new Birmingham Conservatoire when it opens in 2017 and feel the warmth of its embrace. No sniffs and shrugs: no one should be the least bit underwhelmed.
David Roberts is dean of faculty at Birmingham City University
