A highly competitive RFP process led the State of Wisconsin and the leadership at the University of Wisconsin Madison’s music school to select Steinberg Hart (formerly Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture) and Fisher Dachs Associates to design a new 57,000sf, $50M music performance building. Through a series of visioning sessions, programming workshops, predesign charrettes, informational presentations and guided tours of performing arts centers around the country, the pre-design process included over 100 stakeholders, performers, and community participants. The program and planning culminated in a three-story building featuring an 661-seat concert hall, a 314-seat recital hall, and related support spaces. The facility is used for approximately 350 events annually performed by faculty, students, and touring guests. The concert and recital halls accommodate symphonies and chamber orchestras, solos, quartets and choral concerts. The Hamel School of Music allows UW Madison’s students to rise to their professional potential while in an undergraduate setting.