From our Director, Eugenie C. Cowan, today’s guest-blogger.

“You may know that I use the word “infrastructure” a lot, and sometimes I define it slightly differently.  Generally, it’s simply workspace – rehearsal or performance.   In “We Make Do”, we defined it as the foundation, the support encompassing physical structure, staff, equipment and operating costs.

In 2004 we authored the study of the need for a dedicated orchestra rehearsal center – infrastructure – that was one impetus for the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, to open at 450 W. 37th Street on March 8. (The 2004 study is archived at NYC Performing Arts Spaces, a Program of Fractured Atlas.)  Geoff Lynch of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture gave David and me a construction tour Tuesday, and you have a treat in store for you!

But back to infrastructure:  If you are rehearsing or listening to musicians in the two large studios, you will benefit from, but you won’t see the infrastructure that we did:  a box within a box within a box – generally almost three feet deep, to ensure the best sound within the room and the least transmission of sound into and out of the studios.

Applause to the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and to the Hardy firm.”