Conservatory's Stull Hall Celebrated by Architectural Institute

David H. Stull Recital Hall, the conservatory performance space built atop Bibbins Hall over the summer of 2013, has earned a prestigious Honor Award, the highest accolade bestowed by the American Institute of Architects.

The award was presented to Westlake Reed Leskosky, the Cleveland-based architectural firm that also created Oberlin’s Bertram and Judith Kohl Building, which opened to great acclaim in 2010.

The award for Stull Hall was announced at the 2013 AIA Cleveland + ASID Ohio North Design Awards on November 15.

“This project is proof that true beauty results from a clear architectural response to the design problem,” the jury wrote in its remarks. “The intervention of this new recital and performance hall within the current Oberlin Conservatory of Music complex results in a solution that is sensitive to the rhythm and formal language of the existing 1964 building yet provocative in its innovative response to mediating natural light and challenging acoustic requirements. The jury all agreed that this is a beautifully executed project.”

Stull Hall is named in honor of David H. Stull ’89, dean of the conservatory from 2004 to 2013, who became president of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in July. Designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki (of World Trade Center fame), Bibbins Hall is the main classroom building of the Oberlin Conservatory.