The Louise & David Roselle Center for the Arts

Constructed between Spring 2004 and Fall 2006 The University of Delaware Center for the Arts features four main performance spaces and 32 practice rooms for music study.

Architect: Ayers St. Gross of Baltimore, Maryland

Constructed between Spring 2004 and Fall 2006 The University of Delaware Roselle Center for the Arts features four main performance spaces and 32 practice rooms for music study.

The 92,000-square-foot facility is home of the 450-seat Thompson Theatre, the 200-seat Gore Recital Hall, the Puglisi Orchestra Hall, which seats up to 300, and a Studio Theatre. These performance spaces feature state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems.

A distinctive feature of the main lobby is the set of three custom-designed light sculptures. Each unit contains 17 glass bowls in shades of blue and gold, ranging in size from 21.6 inches to 36 inches. Many of the bowls contain images related to the University of Delaware. The artist is Laura Murdoch of Vancouver, British Columbia; the glassmaker is George C. Scott of Seattle, Wash., and the manufacturer of the armature is Charles Loomis, Inc. of Seattle.

The lobby also houses a concessions area and has multiple video monitors that allow patrons to view performances from outside the Thompson Theatre and Gore Recital Hall.

One of The Center’s most important features cannot be seen, and that is the acoustic design of the spaces. Each main space is designed as a separate box within the building, separated from the rest of the building through acoustic isolation joints, flexible connections for utilities and vibration isolation for piping. This ensures that sound does not transmit out of the spaces to affect other rooms. Additionally, all the spaces have such design elements as angled walls, curved and coffered ceilings and individual reflectors to ensure that sound is transmitted within the space effectively.

Finally, there are numerous acoustic wall panels, felt treatments and acoustic draperies that further absorb critical frequencies to provide the best acoustic and theatrical performances for the public. The Roselle Center for the Arts is connected by a covered pergola to a 715-vehicle parking deck, just west of the center, accessible from Elkton Road and Amstel Avenue.