Maine College of Art: Bob Crewe Program in Art and Music

On October 3, 2015, Maine College of Art dedicated new facilities for the Bob Crewe Program for Art and Music. The College believes that “the program, working in tandem with MECA’s rigorous visual arts offerings, will prepare students to be truly interdisciplinary musicians, performers, sound artists, artists and thinkers.” The renovation includes classrooms, a recording studio, a live performance and tracking room, individual practice rooms, and student gathering and display space. At the heart of this renovation is a bright gallery for the art and music mementos of famed singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and artist, Bob Crewe; who penned a string of hits for the Four Seasons, including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man” and “Rag Doll.” A restored historic stair and adjacent storefront display space provide a direct connection between the gallery and the public street above. The facility also includes a shooting studio for the College’s photography program.

The 12,000 SF music and art facility was carved out of damp and dark basement storage spaces. Indeed, in some areas the spaces were almost literally “carved” using 4 ft. diameter saw blades to cut through the massive granite foundation walls. The facility is a continuation of multi-phase adaptive work spanning twenty years; an abandoned 150,000 SF building has, over time, been transformed into a vibrant “campus” for an urban art college. The art school has been an important catalyst for the renewal of Portland’s downtown. Facilities created during these two decades include classrooms; studios (for painting, sculpture, metalsmithing, ceramics, printing, textile design, drawing, photography, graphic design, etc.); a science laboratory; a foundry; a kiln room; computer laboratories; and offices for administration and admissions.

Prior to this latest renovation, the entire facility was knitted together by a central stair, running from the entry lobby up to the fifth floor, where the landing looks out to Casco Bay. Along the way, the angled stair creates spaces for teaching, chance interaction, and display. The stair quickly became the “Main Street” of the building, and recently, it was one of the inspirations for the College’s new logo. With this latest renovation, a new stair in the main lobby creates an inviting physical and visual connection between the newly renovated spaces below and the heart of the school’s “Main Street”.  It is placed in an elegant glass enclosure directly beneath the existing grand steel staircase, extending the vertical circulation core to the lower level.