Bard College at Simon’s Rock
Daniel Arts Center

The Center is a composition of buildings and landscape, forming an enclave for the arts at Simons Rock. The performing arts wing contains a dance studio, the 100-seat Studio Theater, and 350-seat Mainstage Theater configured to bring the audience to the performer, and to support technical training for theater students. A visual arts wing contains studios for painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, and electronic and digital arts. A separate shop building provides flexible facilities for ceramics, sculpture, metalworking, and woodworking. The double-height entrance lobby and generous connections between spaces provide opportunities for collaborative work and for sharing the wide variety of activities occurring in the Center on a daily basis. 

The interior and exterior material palette of steel, wood, polycarbonite, and glass is simple and durable. Outdoor courtyards between the buildings serve as a multi-use gathering spaces. A performance amphitheater connects to the Mainstage with a sliding door, while garage doors in the shop building allow work to spill outside. A boardwalk connection through the adjacent woods links the arts with the campus center.