San Diego Symphony's New Home: Heritage & Innovation in Harmony

This architectural tour of the Jacobs Music Center will highlight the bold contemporary interventions that have redefined a 1929 movie palace as a 21st-century concert hall.

New design elements—reconfigured stagehouse and seating, redesigned circulation, and advanced building systems—are thoughtfully integrated to enhance performance, accessibility, and audience experience. These additions operate in respectful dialogue with preserved historic fabric, maintaining the building's architectural legacy.

The tour will examine how acousticians, architects, and fabricators collaborated to implement precise technical solutions that resulted in a unified, forward-looking venue that honors its past while embracing the future of performance architecture.

Learning Objectives

1. Examine the cultural and institutional impact of adaptive reuse in historic architecture for the institution, their audiences, and the broader community.
2. Learn about the multidisciplinary integration required for complex renovations and additions to historic structures.
3. Explore how to work effectively with specialty consultants and fabricators to realize custom architectural solutions.
4. Review strategies to modify and make additions to a historic building with solutions that respect the architectural legacy of the past while embracing a contemporary, forward-looking future.

---