School of Music

The School of Music (SOM) is a long-anticipated project for the University of South Florida's College of Visual and Performing Arts. Built in 1963, the original Fine Arts Building was intended to hold only 100 undergraduate students. Today, the University enrolls more than four times that many.  Students were frequently forced to practice in the outdoor courtyard due to the lack of available practice rooms. 

The project's dramatic yet simple defining element – the lyrical wall – uses form and shadow to express rhythm and pattern. The wall reinforces the building’s purpose – music – and guides audiences to and through the building.  It opens to lobbies, student spaces, a green amphitheater and smaller, more intimate spaces. The lyrical wall soars to 55 feet in height in some places and diminishes to bench height in others. Phase I includes a new teaching facility with a 500-seat concert hall and a 100-seat recital hall. Supplementing performance venues include gallery spaces, classrooms, libraries, practice rooms, rehearsal halls, informal collaboration spaces, faculty studios, and administration offices. A 1,200-seat performance hall is planned for Phase II.

Hosting choral, instrumental, jazz, and percussion instruction and performance, the new SOM transforms the learning environment for students and faculty, establishing a music presence on campus and strengthening and enriching the University's cultural offerings.