Paul Mellon Arts Center
Encyclopedia
Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut...
school, Wallingford, Connecticut
Wallingford, Connecticut
Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 43,026 at the 2000 census.- History :Wallingford was established on October 10, 1667, when the Connecticut General Assembly authorized the "making of a village on the east river" to 38 planters and freemen...
. It is known locally as the "PMAC". It was designed by architect I. M. Pei
I. M. Pei
Ieoh Ming Pei , commonly known as I. M. Pei, is a Chinese American architect, often called a master of modern architecture. Born in Canton, China and raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Pei drew inspiration at an early age from the gardens at Suzhou...
.
The original design began in 1968 and the building was completed in 1972. It was funded in large part by school alumnus Paul Mellon
Paul Mellon
Paul Mellon KBE was an American philanthropist, thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame...
, who was also responsible as the National Gallery's president for Pei's commission for the East Building of the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
at roughly the same time.
The Structure
The physical structure has a rectangular footprint but is divided into two wings: the Theater Wing, which houses an 800-seat, two level proscenium theater as well as a black box theaterBlack box theater
The black box theater is a relatively recent innovation, consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor.-History:...
; and the Triangle Wing, which has five levels of practice rooms, art studios, classrooms, offices, and a recording studio. The two wings are connected underground by the black box theater.
The building was constructed around the time at which the Rosemary Hall school for girls and the Choate School for boys joined to become a single, coeducational institution and quickly became a physical and symbolic link between the two campuses. Today, it retains less of this meaning, for the two schools' campuses are no longer separated as they were in the early 1970s.
Student Humor
A common joke shared among students of Choate Rosemary Hall is that when viewed from a certain angle, the shape of the building resembles the word "fuck".This is coupled with the second Structure designed for Choate by Pei in 1989, a Science Building adjacent to the Arts Center which is a "U" shaped building.