Roger Glass Center for the Arts

The University of Dayton’s new Roger Glass Center for the Arts significantly elevates the university’s performing arts resources while fostering greater connections with the Dayton community. By consolidating six buildings scattered throughout downtown and the UD campus into one central location, the 51,200 SF center facilitates greater collaboration among the university’s diverse performing arts programs. CMTA provided MEP engineering for this state-of-the-art facility.

The facility features a 386-seat concert hall that can be acoustically tuned to accommodate musical performances of varying sizes, while a 244-seat experimental theater provides flexible space for performances, allowing for dynamic lighting and sound from any angle. Additionally, a visual arts gallery offers the ideal environment for showcasing both two- and three-dimensional artworks, with optimal space, lighting, and advanced audio/visual connections. The building also houses experiential learning facilities, including a TV studio, control room, video-editing lab, radio studio, and audio production suite for students across various art programs.

Committed to sustainability, the facility is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification and adheres to University Design Standards for green design initiatives. To improve energy efficiency, CMTA incorporated heat recovery chillers that meet minimum heating requirements during transitional and summer seasons. Outside air is supplied to all spaces via a central energy recovery unit. Furthermore, all lighting in the facility is LED, including advanced theatrical lighting systems.