The Desautels Concert Hall is a state of the art performance venue that will enable the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Music to showcase a broad range of musical performances. As the final piece of the multi-phased Taché Arts Complex project, the 407 seat facility is carefully integrated into a tightly constrained, pre-existing context. To the North and West, the site is framed by the perpendicular wings of Taché Hall, an original campus building over 100 years old, recently renovated as part of the Arts Complex project. To the East, the Concert Hall connects to the more recent Taché Centre Block building, making use of existing mechanical spaces and an elevator core.

The orientation of the hall was governed by the need to construct an orchestra pit below grade while avoiding a major underground utility tunnel running diagonally across the site. With the overall size and shape of the hall largely driven by performance requirements and site constraints, the exterior design of the building grew from a desire to ameliorate shadow impacts, while simultaneously creating a formalized sequence of arrival befitting a concert hall.

The hall is designed to create an optimal acoustical environment across a wide array of performance modes, ranging from large orchestral ensembles to small vocal recitals. Each performance mode requires specific reverberation times and hall size. With such a large range of performance configurations, the stage makes use of an adjustable concert shell system of moveable towers, pivoting panels and ceiling reflectors. This concert shell system is visually extended into the house through the seamless integration of matching millwork panels, merging audience and performer, and diminishing the presence of a fourth wall created by a traditional proscenium.