The new Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts (PRAx) at Oregon State University brings together music, theater, digital communications, and the visual arts to create a campus centerpiece and gateway for culture and creativity. The building supports the university's goals of moving from a STEM to STEAM education model and provides additional performance and event space on campus. Comprehensive education and performance complex features a 500-seat recital hall, black box theater, flexible art gallery, and customized support spaces. Additionally, the Center included the renovation of an adjacent historic structure for rehearsal and classroom functions and a site design configured for outdoor performance and public gathering.
The new facility eschews traditional front-of-house and back-of-house separations, instead weaving student performance and learning spaces throughout the building. The design prioritizes the student experience and aims to highlight learning as part of the performance process. The architecture supports the idea of collapsing distinctions between audience and performer, rehearsal and performance, and OSU students and the public.
The building materials reflect the dual learning and performance environment, distinguishing the Center as a dynamic entry to the southeast corner of the campus. Dark-stained wood at the exterior wraps around public spaces with natural-stained reveals at windows and entrances. The warm wood contrasts with a neutral masonry cladding that references the historical brick architecture on campus. Inside, a linear lobby carves through the building, gracefully transitioning from refined wood paneling at the north entrance to expressed steel structure at the south end.
