American studio LMN Architects has completed a performing arts centre for the University of Iowa that features twisted terracotta panels, glass shingles and bespoke acoustic panels made of metal and felt.
The Voxman Music Building is situated between the university?s campus and the downtown core of Iowa City. L-shaped in plan, the six-storey building occupies a prominent corner site.

The building aims to celebrate music "at every turn", and to provide a collaborative and exploratory environment that allows every space to be used for performances.
"While featuring a number of stunning performance spaces, the building also聽embraces the idea that the future of musical performance is more fluid than fixed space performance, so the entire building was imagined as possible performance space," said LMN Architects, a Seattle-based firm. Photograph by Adam Hunter
The building is wrapped in light-grey terracotta panels, some of which are twisted, and low-iron glass with delicate shading patterns. Portions of the facades cantilever over the sidewalks, lending a sense of dynamism to the exterior.
On the north and west elevations, glass walls provide clear views into a multi-storey atrium, helping connect the centre to the surrounding neighbourhood, and reinforcing the "merger of campus and city".

"The pattern of streets and open spaces in the mixed-use district of Iowa City extends directly into the building's multi-level interior spaces, cultivati...