Conrad Prebys Music Center at
UC San Diego Wins Top Award for Construction and Design Excellence

October 14, 2009

By Pat JaCoby

Conrad Prebys Music Center concert hall

The newly-opened Conrad Prebys Music Center at UC San Diego has been named the best “Higher Education/Research Facility” in Southern California for its construction and design by the McGraw-Hill publication, California Construction.

An independent jury of industry experts in design and construction judged more than 125 nominated projects that had been completed between Sept. 1, 2008 and Aug. 31, 2009. Points were awarded on criteria including project management, overcoming challenges of the job, overall excellence in architectural or engineering design, innovation, safety and contribution to the community.

Awards will be presented by the publication at a ceremony in Long Beach Dec. 9. Among attendees will be Michael Downs, UC San Diego principal architect and project manager.

“The support of a formal partnering process by PCL Construction Services of San Diego, UC San Diego and LMN Architects of Seattle provided an environment where all parties focused on equal key objectives,” said Bruce Winer, PCL business development manager. “Successful completion of the project was based on this partnering philosophy, which includes a strong construction management team and a shared desire with UC San Diego and LMN Architects to deliver the most impressive final project possible.

Conrad Prebys Music Center

Miller Puckette, acting chair of the UC San Diego Department of Music, said the building’s central purpose was to support undergraduate and graduate education. “UCSD now has one of the finest music buildings of any university in the country. It was designed with careful attention to acoustics and has a state-of-the-art technological infrastructure. In particular, the concert hall has unmatched acoustics and is the very best place in the San Diego area, and one of the best in the state, to play and listen to music. We hope people throughout the area will come and hear for themselves.”

Assistant Vice Chancellor and Campus Architect Boone Hellmann noted that “the teamwork on this project was extraordinary. The participants all recognized how important they were to the success of one another and to the ultimate success of the project. There was never any doubt that the result would be an unparalleled music center…mission accomplished!”

Construction of the 46,000 square foot $53 million building started with a January, 2007 groundbreaking and was completed in January, 2009.

The building contains offices, classrooms, student recording suites, computer music labs, practice rooms, a flexible experimental theatre, 150-seat lecture/recital hall, ensemble hall and a 400-seat concert hall. All areas, including offices, have acoustical isolation from surrounding rooms. The main recital hall interior uses angular geometric shapes designed by world-renowned acoustician Cyril Harris. The complex shape of the hall diffuses sound evenly throughout the space to enhance the quality of the music.

Local philanthropist and builder Conrad Prebys demonstrated his love of music on May 2008 by making a $3 million gift to support the renowned UC San Diego Department of Music with the establishment of the Conrad Prebys Music Endowment. This gift comes just one year after Prebys made a $6 million donation which enabled UC San Diego to complete the construction of the music center, named the Conrad Prebys Music Center in his honor.

Media Contact: Pat JaCoby, 858-534-7404 or pjacoby@ucsd.edu