Midwest Musicians Institute: Architectural Design Through Music

Abstract

My thesis is the creation of a musical education and performance facility in downtown Fargo, ND. The education spaces will focus on the learning and practicing of music for individuals seeking musical careers, and the performance sections will house the venues that will showcase students as well as outside performers and lecturers. All of these activities will be combined in a building that emphasizes the overall feel of the spaces and structures that create it and how those feelings directly relate to the style of the music. There will be particular emphasis placed on the image, function, and interaction of the facility with the public. Architecture and music are very similar forms of expression; each one can take a person to a different plane of existence. Each uses different parts of the visual or audible senses to create a composition that flows and speaks to the audience. The intent of this project is to design a building, where students can learn and practice their talent in a space that architecturally mirrors a type of music through form, structure, and feeling.