Unamplified, uncompressed, intimate - Sonic Generator in Shutze's Academy of Medicine

I found myself leaning in, leaning forward, trying to get closer. They played loud and in a whisper.

These days music is engineered to sound good in the car and on MP3 players. Dynamics get squeezed out else we'd constantly adjust the volume while we jogged.

Not this night. It was the perfect storm of architecture tourism: a great event in a great space.

I sat 10 feet from the string quartet in the extraordinary auditorium at the Academy of Medicine.


Violinists Helen Hwaya Kim and Adelaide Federici, cellist Brad Ritchie, composer Jonathan Berger, violist William Johnston. Sonic Generator is the contemporary music ensemble-in-residence at Georgia Tech.

Until the music began I enjoyed the building and the people.


The Academy of Medicine glowed in the low sun. The brick pavers are part of the composition, the base layer of rustication.


A string quartet in a building like this? Free? Bring it on.


I've been here before. It works every time. Philip Shutze designed this just for me. However grand, this room is comfortable.

The rotunda is the narthex for the auditorium.


There are 230 seats. It feels like an oval but it's not. The entrance wall is flat. The stage is in Turn 1.

I wondered how would it sound? Did Shutze do acoustics?


We were about to find out.


The stage featured two marimbas and columns in antis.


Jason Freeman, associate professor in Georgia Tech School of Music introduced the show.


William Johnston performed first, playing "Viola Elegy" with a recording. I stood in the very back corner. It was as if he was right beside me.

I moved to the front row.


It was Marimba time, left - Charles Settle, right Stuart Gerber. They performed "Piano Phase" by Steve Reich and messed with our brains (see video).


Composer Jonathan Berger introduced the final piece, his own work: "Doubles" (2004).


The quartet took the stage.

I just don't get to do this.. I felt like I was holding each instrument, feeling the vibrations.


Bravo. Mark Gresham reviewed the performances at ArtsATL.com.

Did Shutze do acoustics? Somebody sure did. Did Shutze ever hear a performance in Academy of Medicine?


The end of concerts are so sad. The performance is just gone. You have to leave, go back to eating, working, and sleeping.


For most of us this was the first and last time. And modern works rarely leave me whistling a melody.


Yet I do have vivid memories of the performances.


I remember how real and intimate it sounded, as if they performed just for me.


Time to go.

I don't know when the Academy of Medicine will host music again.

Sonic Generator will perform at the opening event for gloATL's Liquid Culture: a utopia station series July 6, 7-8 pm – Midtown – 15th Street and Peachtree Street, Colony Square Plaza. More here.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter I'll give you a heads up.

Wow Renovation to Philip Shutze's Academy of Medicine

Georgia Tech has bought (or were gifted, I'm not sure how it worked) and renovated the Historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech and offers it as an event facility. That is a very fine thing for architecture tourists and for everyone else.

"The new contract clearly stated each architects responsibilities. (R. Kennon) Perry maintained his position as principal architect in charge of working drawings and supervision, (Phillip Trammell) Shutze would design the building." Quote from American Classicist: The Architecture of Philip Trammell Shutze by Elizabeth Meredith Dowling


In 1968 all I knew is that it was a classy building with a front yard on West Peachtree. I lived across the street from the Academy of Medicine (1941) my senior year at Tech. I saw it every single day. I hadn't the slightest idea what they did in there or what it looked like inside.


I was fortunate to attend the grand re-opening on December 15, 2011 and took a few pictures.


This is a per-renovation picture.


Event planning staff and volunteers from Tech showed us around.


Eye's up.


Eyes up again and again.

"In 1980 the entire building was renovated...but Shutze...was not consulted...the sparkling clarity of the original white coloration...is no longer in evidence...." Quote from American Classicist: The Architecture of Philip Trammell Shutze by Elizabeth Meredith Dowling

I think the "sparkling clarity" is back. Don't you? Who managed the restoration? I hope to find out.


The clerestory windows from outside. "...square tower containing coffered semicircular skylights."


I don't know my terms. Aren't these Acroteria?


The entrance hall / foyer / rotunda is uncanny. It feels colossal yet cozy, grand but comfortable, elaborate but reserved. To me a great place can impress without making me feel small.


A little panorama from the rotunda. Eyes up yet again.


The auditorium is to the east, nice place for a wedding.


Columns in antis frame the stage.


From the stage looking towards the rotunda.


Detail of the mirrored sconces and wallpaper in the auditorium. Do you suppose Shutze designed these?


I'm looking across the rotunda towards the north wing and north entrance. There is a library down there, a good place for the bridesmaids to hang out, also a parlor for the bride.


The north entrance from the outside. It rocks.


I'm standing in the library, looking across the hall into the parlor.


Panorama of the library with its fine furnishings. Not a spec of dust.


The stair is in the north wing too. It delighted every glance.


It's just a few steps from the rotunda yet seems part of an immense space.


It's u-shaped with curves galore.


Downstairs is a bit more modest with meeting rooms. Ample space for the groom's party and more. Look in the mirror.


Crawford Long keeps watch down there.


The south wing is a large hall, suitable for the wedding reception and dance. It has this bodacious highly-modeled painting. My other pictures didn't come out very well.


Do you recognize the artist? We don't know.

How about a few outside pictures.


The portico overlooks the only lawn on West Peachtree.


Severe detailing.






Right now you can see the Cavalia tent framed by Midtown highrises.


The north side has a sunken patio for the reception spillover.


It's enclosed with a view of the midtown skyline.


The north entrance again, the parlor is on the right, the library on the left.


The entrance to the rusticated terrace level has plenty of charm.


The auditorium bumps out of the east facade.


The back door with the transom would enter the stage.


Stairs and a ramp lead to the sunken patio.


Now that I've convinced you, I hope you'll invite me to the wedding.

Thanks to Anne Minty and Shawn Stinson, event coordinators for the Historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech. They are the ones to call.