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Northrop Auditorium logo
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After 85 years, a facelift was most in order.
The centerpiece of the University of Minnesota, Northrop Auditorium, just completed a five-year long major renovation, and is due to re-open as a vital performance space in the Twin Cities area.
The grand (re-)opening happens next Friday, with a celebration and performance by the American Ballet Theatre, but W♥M was lucky enough to get an early look, and tour inside the new building. Built in 1929, the “grand old dame” of the University of Minnesota was the home for the Minnesota Symphony and Weisman Art Museum for half a century, and has hosted numerous dignitaries, concerts, and special events over the years, but had fallen in stature due to its age and disrepair.
Though its outer façade remains mostly the same (with the exception of a back addition), the interior was completely gutted (or “surgically deconstructed” as they prefer to call it) and remade, to fits the changing needs of today’s culture. Five years and $88 million dollars later, the end result is impressive.
Another 70,000 concrete blocks, 50,000 bricks, and 152 miles of wire, were among the additions to upgrade the facility, while its seating area dramatically shrank from 4,847 to 2,700, resulting in a more intimate sensory experience (more than double the previous seats are less than 100ft from the stage than before) and noticeably improved sight lines and acoustics. While the old Northrop concerts sounded like listening through a soup can/string kid’s telephone, the new Northrop carries sounds as delicate as a sneeze and sheet music page-turning, throughout all levels.
The view onto the stage remains similar- its proscenium arch remains, embedded with medallions representing colleges and divisions, but more light shines through and the backstage area is greatly improved.
The biggest change to the theater area is the balcony—once, a central jutting level resulting in an echoing ceiling above the back half of the lower level, it is now a rounded and separated three-level design, that is also seen in more venerable modern concert halls and opera houses.
Triple the amount of previous box office windows, almost double the amount of restrooms, and additions of collaborative spaces and a (soon-to-come) café add to the finishing touches inside. Unfortunately, no mention of LEED certification or other sustainable/environmentally-friendly attributes, but that is probably more challenging to accomplish when refurbishing an older building, than beginning it in a new one.
While no rock shows are currently scheduled at Northrop Auditorium, with the building finished and ready to be seen, a few bookings can’t be that far behind.
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Northrop Auditorium exterior
courtesy Star Tribune
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The grand (re-)opening happens next Friday, with a celebration and performance by the American Ballet Theatre, but W♥M was lucky enough to get an early look, and tour inside the new building. Built in 1929, the “grand old dame” of the University of Minnesota was the home for the Minnesota Symphony and Weisman Art Museum for half a century, and has hosted numerous dignitaries, concerts, and special events over the years, but had fallen in stature due to its age and disrepair.
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Northrop Auditorium Renovation
courtesy U of MN
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Another 70,000 concrete blocks, 50,000 bricks, and 152 miles of wire, were among the additions to upgrade the facility, while its seating area dramatically shrank from 4,847 to 2,700, resulting in a more intimate sensory experience (more than double the previous seats are less than 100ft from the stage than before) and noticeably improved sight lines and acoustics. While the old Northrop concerts sounded like listening through a soup can/string kid’s telephone, the new Northrop carries sounds as delicate as a sneeze and sheet music page-turning, throughout all levels.
The view onto the stage remains similar- its proscenium arch remains, embedded with medallions representing colleges and divisions, but more light shines through and the backstage area is greatly improved.
|
Northrop Auditorium new balconies
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Triple the amount of previous box office windows, almost double the amount of restrooms, and additions of collaborative spaces and a (soon-to-come) café add to the finishing touches inside. Unfortunately, no mention of LEED certification or other sustainable/environmentally-friendly attributes, but that is probably more challenging to accomplish when refurbishing an older building, than beginning it in a new one.
While no rock shows are currently scheduled at Northrop Auditorium, with the building finished and ready to be seen, a few bookings can’t be that far behind.
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Northrop Auditorium stage |
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