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Challenge
Create effective individual and small group music practice space within a residence hall, without disturbing other residents and activities.
Wenger Solution
Installing sound-isolating music practice rooms in coordination with residence hall construction.
Benefits
Highlights
"Our residents really like the practice rooms and use them a lot," says Cathy Maxwell, director of facilities at University Center in Chicago, Illinois. "The rooms are fantastic!" The nation's largest multi-college student residence hall, University Center is a joint project of Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University and Roosevelt University. The 18-story building, which houses over 1,700 students, opened in August 2004. Wenger installed 19 sound-isolating music practice rooms in the second floor, which also includes the dining center, recreation area, fitness center and art studio.
"Students can use the rooms for practicing whenever they want, without disturbing anyone else," explains Maxwell. Rooms are kept locked, and keys can be checked out from the resident services desk, which is staffed 24/7. "These practice rooms help reduce some roommate conflicts - students can practice at 3:00 a.m. in their pajamas if they want to," says Maxwell. She believes that smaller families and larger homes today mean most college students never shared a bedroom growing up. "In the past, I think roommates were more flexible and accommodating," notes Maxwell.
Student schedules are also more unpredictable today. In addition to attending class, more students are working and these rooms enable them to practice after their jobs and school - even late at night - without disrupting anyone else. Because the rooms are modular, Maxwell says University Center may consider reconfiguring several smaller rooms to create a larger one, primarily to better accommodate music groups that need more space. "It's nice to have this flexibility," she says.
Add a few thousand square feet to your practice room with the push of a button. A Sound-Isolating Practice Room with VAE technology is the future of practice rooms and it's already adding value to music programs accross the country. It puts students, educators and preformers a buttons push away from nine distinct performance and practice environments, all within a single, attractive, sound-isolating modular design that will adapt to any plan.
Product List
Sound-Isolating Music Practice Rooms