Tanglewood Learning Institute Linde Center for Music and Learning

Abstract

Since 1940 Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Lenox, Massachusetts, has operated the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC), a summer music academy where students can study with world class musicians. In 2019 Tanglewood added a new program, the Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI), offering music lovers access to rehearsals, lectures, master classes and recitals. TLI will use a new facility, the Linde Center for Music and Learning, designed by Kirkegaard Associates and William Rawn Associates to complement the nearby 1100-seat Ozawa Concert Hall, designed in the 1990s by the same firms. The Linde Center includes three flat-floor rehearsal rooms, sized at 800 sf, 1,600 sf, and 4000 sf, offering rehearsal space to TMC students during the week, and rehearsal, recital, lecture, and banqueting space for TLI patrons on weekends. The Linde Center is air conditioned, but in keeping with the Tanglewood ethos operable walls and windows allow each of the three rooms to operate with natural ventilation, a challenge for room acoustics and sound isolation. The three spaces share a common architectural language and acoustical approach, but the details of their acoustic designs, AV systems and adjustable absorption respond to the size of the room and the differences in how often they see a particular use.