Middlesex Community College Lowell
Academic Arts Center
Project Overview
- Renovation and restoration of Victorian Gothic brick building listed on State and National Registers of Historic Places
- Two-story building includes a theater and dance studio
- Gut rehabilitation and restoration, including partial excavation of basement
MCC Lowell underwent a renovation to transform this historic two-story Victorian Gothic brick building, formerly the B&M Railroad Department into a new Academic Arts Center. The building now features rooms for teaching music, dance and theater and includes a 177-seated proscenium theater, a 108-seated music classroom and recital hall and a dance studio that doubles as a black box classroom/multipurpose space. The building sits on an urban site surrounded by residential and commercial properties with both heavy vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Renovation scope included new restrooms, mechanical support spaces, elevators, two new stairways, walls and finishes; M/E/P, tel/data, communication, security and fire protection services; tie-ins to existing campus utilities; as well as deferred maintenance upgrades and repairs. The interior received a gut rehabilitation and restoration, including partial excavation of the basement floor to enlarge the floor-to-ceiling height and to install a subsurface drainage system. The design also included a narrow addition at the rear for mechanical equipment.
