The life of a campus is a reflection of the environment created for learning and creativity.

The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), currently under construction, signals another development in the renaissance at Rensselaer — the enrichment of campus life and of the student experience.

A commitment to cultural creativity

The center will build on Rensselaer’s emerging reputation for excellence in the electronic arts. It will host intercollegiate competitions and exchanges, house shows and concerts, and provide a venue for appearances by internationally recognized figures from science, the arts and humanities, and politics.

As a facility and a program, EMPAC will offer artists, students, researchers and audiences opportunities that are available nowhere else under a single and dramatic roof. It will enable Rensselaer students to study at the nexus of research, technology and the performing arts, where they will realize new opportunities for interdisciplinary creativity and discovery.

A bold statement for design and performance

The 220,000-square foot building will contain a wide and flexible range of major venues:

• Atrium
• 1200-seat concert hall
• 400-seat theater
• 3,500-square-foot studio
• 2,500-square-foot-studio
• Suites for artists-in-residence
• Rehearsal spaces
• Student and support spaces
• Professional recording, editing and post-production facilities
• Digital broadcasting facilities

Positioned on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River, the center will make a bold statement about Rensselaer’s historic mission in “the application of science to the common purposes of life.” It will celebrate the fact that performance and communication are central drivers in world culture.

Learn more about Campus Construction