Makan: “The choice of spaces responded to long standing priorities that the music program has identified over 20 years.”
Photo courtesy of Ken’ichi Suzuki
On the afternoon of Feb. 15, MIT Music students, faculty, and staff held an open house for the public opening of the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building. The open house marks the first concert of Artfinity, an MIT music and arts festival with 80 scheduled events from Feb. 15 to May 2, 2025.
The event featured the Institute’s different music groups, such as the MIT Laptop Ensemble and MIT Jazz Ensemble. Hands-on workshops for the public were also held at the open house by groups like the MIT Balinese Gamelan and Rambax, a Senegalese drum ensemble. At night, MIT Music held SONIC JUBILANCE, a sold-out concert to celebrate the opening of the music building. The concert featured four world premieres composed by MIT Music faculty and performances by MIT’s eight music ensembles.
The new music building started with the late philanthropist Joyce Linde’s cornerstone gift in 2018. Linde is the wife of the late Edward H. Linde ’62, a former MIT Corporation member. Linde’s gift helped address the Institute’s need for a central music space. Previously, MIT did not have a main music building for music classes and rehearsals, as they were spread across different places on campus.
“The choice of spaces responded to long standing priorities that the music program has identified over 20 years,” Prof. Keeril Makan wrote in an email to The Tech. Makan is the associate dean of MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS), and a professor of music composition. In the proposed building plan, these spaces included a concert hall, rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, and a classroom for world music instruction.
The building is designed by SANAA, a Tokyo-based architectural firm that received the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize. It is located next to Kresge Auditorium, and is approximately 35,000 square feet. The building consists of three distinct brick volumes that surround a glass lobby, and underneath the building is a two-level parking garage with more than 140 spaces.
One main feature of the Linde Music Building is the Thomas Hull Concert Hall, a performance venue with a maximum seating capacity of 390. Unlike traditional concert halls where the stage is in the front and the seats follow a row configuration, the Hull Concert Hall has the performers in the center of the circle. As a result, the rows of the audience form a ring around the performers. The circular layout of the concert hall was inspired by the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin.
According to Makan, the purpose of this special arrangement is for the audience to have “less separation” from the performers, allowing the experience to be “more intimate.” For instance, a piano recital in the concert hall would enable the audience to view the pianist from an angle that they otherwise wouldn’t in a conventional setting. The seats in the concert hall are also configurable to meet the specific needs of the performance, such as demounting seats for a chorus, or removing seats at the front row for a larger music ensemble.
Besides the unique seating arrangement, the Hull Concert Hall has features for adjustable acoustics; this includes the acoustic banners that can be lowered to reduce reverberation time and a ring of speakers that offer reinforcement. By doing so, the concert hall is able to accommodate various kinds of music performances.
Next to the Hull Concert Hall is the Music and Culture Space, a music space for the MIT Balinese Gamelan and Rambax. Previously, the two music ensembles were taught in Building N52. Given that the ensembles’ sounds have loud volumes, the space has walls insulated with felt for acoustic insulation. In addition, the wide open space allows for classes to have music demonstrations more easily versus a traditional lecture room, as in the case for Introduction to World Music (21M.030).
The third volume of the Linde Music Building is the Music Maker Pavilion, a four-story building that contains rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, offices, a research lab, and a music makerspace. The rehearsal rooms have double height ceilings and drapes for acoustics. Similarly, the offices are acoustically treated so music faculty members can play instruments and compose in the office. The music makerspace is for digital instrument design and music technology prototyping, while the research lab is for students and faculty in the new Music Technology and Computation program that will begin in Fall 2025.
The Linde Music Building will help support MIT’s large music program that has a yearly enrollment of over 1,500 students and over 500 musicians. Makan hopes that the music building will not only help “foster community” for the music students, but also for the general MIT community. “I hope that going to concerts at Tull Hall in the Linde Music Building becomes a regular part of everyone’s lives at MIT.”