This residential studio is located at one of the oldest and largest nonprofit artist residencies in the country. The five-acre property is a former Arts & Crafts country estate originally built in 1913. This building’s architecture is designed to blend in with its bucolic setting. The intent of the design is to provide an inspiring space where dance and music artists can hone their skills and advance their artistic expression.
The 2,500 sq. ft. building houses both a dance and a composer studio. The building features a 1,500 sq. ft. dance studio with a sprung floor system, ceiling heights of 15 ft., a flexible theatrical lighting system, professional sound equipment, and a 400 sq. ft. composer studio with sound attenuating curtains. The structure also contains an additional 500 sq. ft. of private living quarters for resting and bathing for two residences.
Architectural features include modular skylights measuring 3 ft by 60 ft, board and batten wood siding, exposed laminate trusses, and a folding glass window wall measuring 8 ft. by 35 ft. A 12kw photovoltaic rooftop solar array supplies electrical power with battery backup, and power for the hot water storage. The windows on all sides offer expansive views of the native prairie landscape. Lastly, the dance studio walls open as a proscenium onto a broad sloped lawn that serves as a viewing area, and outdoor performance stage.
Artists-in-residence are offered uninterrupted 18-day intervals to stay and focus on creative works in various residential buildings throughout the pastoral campus. The residency provides an opportunity for artists to explore their discipline among a communal group of likeminded artists.
The construction of the dance and music studio was funded by a grant from The Morrison-Shearer Foundation, which is dedicated to the legacy of the art of dance. The Ragdale Foundation hosts more than 200 residencies a year for creative professionals representing multiple interdisciplinary art forms. Ragdale is located on the former historic country estate of architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, and originally built at the beginning of the last century. The campus is adjacent to an eighty-acre open grassland preserve located thirty miles north of Chicago in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Architect: Woodhouse Tinucci Architects
Photographer: Mike Schwartz
