BRUNSWICK - The 2008 Merit Award in Architecture from the United States Institute of Theatre Technology will be presented to William Rawn Associates, the Boston design team behind the $15 million dollar project, at a conference in March in Houston, Texas.

Studzinski Recital Hall has also won the 2007 Honor Award for Design Excellence, Higher Education Facilities, from the Boston Society of Architects.

"For us, these awards recognize the successful work of the entire project team — owner, contractor and architect," said Clifford Gayley of William Rawn Associates.

"Of course, beyond awards, we hope the building continues to strengthen the academic and cultural life of the broader Bowdoin community."

William Rawn Associates collaborated with Lawrence Kirkegaard Associates and Theatre Projects Consultants. This is the same team that designed the much acclaimed Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood for the Boston Symphony (recently ranked by Leo Beranek, in his book Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics, and Architecture, as one of the two best concert halls in the United States built in the last 50 years and among the top four halls in the United States).

Renovation of the Curtis Pool building began in September 2005 by H.P. Cummings Construction Company of Winthrop, Maine — the same firm that built the original Curtis Pool in 1927-28. This time around they faced a daunting and unique challenge: remove a swimming pool — which was literally supporting the building's walls — without compromising the structural integrity of the historically significant building. Specialists were brought in to carefully create support for the walls with tension bars, while the steel pool itself was painstakingly extricated and recycled.

Studzinski Recital Hall, with its intimate room for music, is central to Bowdoin's vision for achieving excellence in the arts. The facility also satisfies students' expectations for practice space in nine individual practice rooms. A rehearsal room, green room, lobby areas, and new and refurbished pianos complete what will now be the center of musical teaching, training and performance at the College.