More About the Rozsa Center
Related Stories The newest addition to the Michigan Tech campus, the state-of-the-art
Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts is not only a striking piece of architecture,
but a treasure house of interesting design features and sophisticated
technology. Gunnar Birkerts, FAIA, architect, and George Izenour, theater
designer, the two key figures in the design and construction of the Rozsa,
will present the 2000-2001 Katherine M. Bosch Lecture, an illustrated
presentation about the project, on Wednesday, October 4 at 8:00 p.m. In
addition to slides shown by the two speakers, there will be a demonstration
of some of the unique, computer-controlled special equipment in the stage
house and the performance hall. Titled "Process and Expression in Architectural
Form," the lecture is free and open to the public and will be held in
the James and Margaret Black Performance Hall in the Rozsa Center.
Throughout the design, planning and construction processes, Birkerts
and Izenour carefully considered, and for the most part implemented, the
needs and ideas of the "end-users"--University Cultural Enrichment/Great
Events Series and the MTU Fine Arts Department, which are now delighted
to be residents in the building.
Birkerts is an award-winning architect who has designed major innovative
and distinctive buildings as far afield as Ankara, Turkey; London, England;
Caracas, Venezuela; Helsinki, Finland; and Florence, Italy, and as close
to home as Duluth, Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Minneapolis. Other architects
admire his use of materials and respect for fine craftsmanship, for the
expressive outer forms generated by the organic functioning of interiors
that he gives his buildings, and for his equally organic response to surrounding
natural shapes "Architects are not omnipotent creatures, but rather interpreters
of building circumstances," says Birkerts, in a statement that neatly
sums up his philosophy. "They respond to the demands of place, purpose,
climate, and available building materials and building technology. Allegiance
to history and culture, and not simply the mode of today, is essential
to the lasting quality I strive for in my architecture."
Born in Riga, Latvia, Birkerts trained in Germany, and began his professional
career when he moved to the U.S. to work in the office of the visionary
modernist Finnish architect, Eero Saarinen. He served on the faculty of
the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Design for over
30 years.
Izenour is Professor Emeritus of Theatre Design and Technology and Director
Emeritus of the Electro-Mechanical Laboratory of the Yale University School
of Drama, where he taught for thirty-eight years.
He is an international authority in the fields of theater design, engineering,
and acoustics. He has served with distinction as author, lecturer, inventor,
designer and engineering consultant. The author of several books and numerous
articles, he wrote the section on theater design for the 1974 edition
of the Encyclopedia Britannica. He has also contributed many inventions
to the technology of the theater.
Izenour has designed many theatres and performing arts centers around
the world and in Canada and the U.S. He is currently at work on several
new projects, most notably a $24-million performing arts center in Matunne,
Venezuela.
This lecture was funded by the Katherine M. Bosch Endowment. For further
information call the Rozsa Center, Great Events at 487-2844.
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