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If you’ve had the opportunity to visit the Winter Visual and Performing Arts Center on the Millersville campus, you may understand why its architects have been honored. From its grand two-story entrance lobby, to its 650-seat Clair Performance Hall, the building embodies what Barry J. Pell, principal architect for the project, had as his goal to design the performing arts center with a sense of “movement.”
“The building was created to bring together both visual and performing arts, and to share the best in local, regional and national performing artists with the greater Lancaster area,” Pell said.
On December 6, 2012, at their annual dinner, the Eastern PA Chapter (EPC) of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) presented the coveted “Special Citation” award to Pell’s Bethlehem, Pa.-based architectural firm, Spillman Farmer Architects. “The EPC has given annual awards for as long as I can remember, 40 years, to recognize and celebrate architectural design and achievements of its members. Think if it as its version of the Oscars,” Pell said.
Excited about his firm’s recognition for the Winter Center project, Pell said, “They always use other architects from other parts of the country to act as jurists of the awards. This year they were from the Architects at the Architect of the Capitol, Washington, D.C.” All the jurists’ comments about the Winter Center design were complimentary, Pell recalled. “Once we have the comments, we plan to frame the award to give to the University.” Asked what he considers special about the Winter Center’s design, Pell said, “I would say its circulation spaces that link a large variety of performance and teaching venues, from a two-story atrium, monumental stair and mezzanine, large corridors that double as green room for performers, corridor lounges for student hang-out space and lobbies for University and public interaction.
We tried to give a design sense of movement, from a wavy steel marquee at its glassy main entry, to striped tile pattern in the main lobbies, and sinewy carpet patterns in the [Biemesderfer] Concert Hall and offices, as if to mirror the dynamic and ever-changing pattern of musical, art and drama, learning and performance.”
