Westmont Magazine New Music Building Debuts on Campus

Once a dormitory for Deane School boys and Westmont women, the historic building continues housing the arts on campus

Music has replaced the sounds of construction at the historic Art Center and former Deane School for Boys building. Extensive renovation has transformed the Santa Barbara County landmark into a home for Westmont’s burgeoning music department. Music students and the five full-time professors and 36 adjunct faculty welcome the new space and the eight office studios, 12 practice rooms, recording studio, composition lab and reception area.

Various gifts to the college funded the project as part of the Bright Hope for Tomorrow campaign.The art department move to Adams Center for the Visual Arts last fall freed up the space.

Sound-proofing the existing structure proved to be a challenge and required new interior walls within the existing walls framed with steel studs and filled with insulation. Steel channels connected to the studs hold isolation brackets, which have two layers of sheetrock attached. The acoustic requirements raised the second floor several inches by installing isolation brackets to hold wood supports and a plywood surface topped with acoustic Marmoleum or carpet. Lightweight concrete creates an acoustic buffer on the first floor. Acoustic panels on the walls and ceilings absorb and deflect sound to enhance the experience of practicing. Enclosing the patios on each side of the building helped create more space.