The Rarig Center is a

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

theater, television, radio, and classroom building on the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

's campus in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, US. Designed by

Ralph Rapson Ralph Rapson (September 13, 1914 – March 29, 2008) was Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota for 30 years. He was one of the world's oldest practicing architects at his death at age 93, and also one of the most ...

and built in 1971, the structure houses four theaters—a

thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that syst ...

proscenium A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...

theater in the round A theatre in the round, arena theatre or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage. Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome, but was not widely explored aga ...

, and

black box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

—as well as the studios for

Radio K KUOM (770 AM) – branded ''Radio K'' – is a daytime-only non-commercial educational college/alternative rock radio station licensed to serve Minneapolis, Minnesota. KUOM covers the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, and extends its ...

. An anchor for the University's West Bank Arts Quarter, the Rarig has been praised for its boldness and functionality but has also been described as "menacing".

Design

The Rarig Center was designed and built in 1971 by American architectural firm

and Associates. Erected in the

neighborhood of

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

on the campus of the

, the Rarig was constructed to house theaters and television studios. It sits due west of Ferguson Hall (1985), across 4th Street South to the north of the Regis Center for Art (2003), and directly southeast of

Wilson Library The Louis Round Wilson Library is a library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Completed in 1929, it served as the university's main library until 1984. Today, it houses several special collections. The dome rises 85 feet over the ...

(1967). It is the oldest of the five buildings to make up the University's West Bank Arts Quarter. The structure was named in honor of University of Minnesota speech professor Frank Rarig and dedicated June 1, 1973. Rapson's design for the Center borrowed imagery from Swiss-French designer

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

New Brutalism Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

movement. In a contemporary review of the structure, author

Larry Millett Larry Millett (born 1947 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American journalist and author. He is the former (retired 2002) architectural critic for the '' St. Paul Pioneer Press'', a daily newspaper in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the author of se ...

noted that the Rarig is the "strongest architectural statement on the West Bank campus." Upon venturing inside, he wrote, "you half expect to find the leaders of the Evil Empire gathered somewhere in the three-story-high atrium, plotting the demise of

Luke Skywalker Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the protagonist of the original film trilogy of the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Portrayed by Mark Hamill, Luke first appeared in ''Star Wars'' (1977), and he returned in ''The ...

." Authors David Gebhard and Tom Martison indicated that, like other Rapson-designed theaters, the Rarig's were quite functional and described the building as a "theatrical piece of sculpture". Millett wrote that the building's interior rooms—the offices, the radio and television studios, and the theaters—are all apparent in the building's external features.

Facilities

Theaters

The Rarig houses four theaters and hosts two troupes: the University Theatre and the Xperimental Theater. The largest space is the Stoll Thrust Theatre, a 460-seat

thrust stage In theatre, a thrust stage (also known as a platform stage or open stage) is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performe ...

designed as a quarter-scale replica of the original

Guthrie Theater The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions between Sir Tyrone Gut ...

, which Rapson also designed. The Thrust features a steeply overhanging balcony, described as an "Alpine Slope". The next largest theater is the Whiting Proscenium Theatre, also called the Pro, a 420-seat

stage well suited to productions with large casts and dance performances. The Kilburn Arena Theatre, a 200-seat

, includes a

sprung floor A sprung floor is a floor that absorbs shocks, giving it a softer feel. Such floors are considered the best kind for dance and indoor sports and physical education, and can enhance performance and greatly reduce injuries. Modern sprung floors are s ...

over the original wood flooring. The Nolte Xperimental Theatre, also known as the X, is a

black box theater A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...

with a capacity of up to 99 audience members and is configurable in a variety of ways. Productions in the X are produced only by undergraduates.

Other

The studios of

(KUOM), the University of Minnesota's radio station, are housed in the Rarig Center. A variety of classrooms and theater laboratories also exist within the building, including a design studio and costume, scenery, and lighting shops.

References

External links

* * {{University of Minnesota campus Theatre in Minneapolis Buildings and structures completed in 1971 Brutalist architecture in Minnesota 1971 establishments in Minnesota University of Minnesota University and college theatres in the United States