Horace Mann - Spring 2017 - 20

HM Alumni Address "The Issues" in Their Work and Lives

ing room for up to 350. Seating can be customized according
to each artist's requirements or the size and type of ensemble
performing on the main stage-a reconfigurable stage comprised of 12 panels that can be elevated to create platforms of
variable size.
One departure from the 18th-century chamber music model
is the venue's double-height configuration, which enables it to
accommodate a 70-piece orchestra. Another is the jazz-club
informality that Bureau V incorporated into the venue, with
a restaurant and a bar that encourage interaction among
audiences and performers. The building houses recording and
video-making studios for artistic collaborations, with technological equipment discretely imbedded into the walls. It's also home
to National Sawdust's own non-profit, artist-led VIA Record
label for recording and disseminating performances and
encouraging experimentation. Finally, there's the hyper-modern
geometric black and white neon of an expansive chandelier that
lights the white shell of this former factory where multi-colored
aquarium gravel was once produced.

Bureau V principal Laura Trevino, and founding principals Stella Lee '95 and
Peter Zuspan (courtesy Bureau V)

in New Jersey and I found the kids at HM so sophisticated in a
way I was not prepared for. It was an awkward time, but I later
realized it was an awkward time for all of us, and that we were
all going through this stage together. These are not painful
memories, though. I genuinely feel they were a normal and
Making the most of challenges, in design and in life
important part of the struggle of growing up. That struggle is
Multiple challenges faced the architects in designing this
an important part of the way I came to be who I am. I always
flexible, multi-use space, but none was as great as overcoming
knew after that it wouldn't be too difficult for me to become aca major drawback of the building they selected to reconfigure.
climated to other situations. By the time I hit college I knew who
National Sawdust is located a block from a subway line, with the
I was and more or less what I wanted to do."
train's vibrations barreling through. Bureau V worked closely
Lee eventually became active in several aspects of HM
with acoustics engineers and theater teams at the design
student life but "not until ninth grade," she said. That's when
agency Arup, to devise a solution that's garnered widespread
she joined Glee Cub and Girls Ensemble. "I also got involved
praise: The entire theater is suspended on hundreds of isolation in sports by playing field hockey and running with the track
springs encased inside a larger, box-within-a-box structure
team, both of which were great outlets for me growing up." In
that keeps the performance space separate from the building's
addition, Lee was in the HM Upper Division Orchestra, playing
outer shell, and completely free from outside noise.
violin, an instrument she studied for 12 years. Turning to guitar
Stella Lee welcomes such challenges into her life. Focused
in recent years Lee notes that her performance experience
on architecture as an undergraduate at Columbia University,
definitely informed her concert hall design work. The alumna
she decided, in her junior year to reconsider her choice and
also enjoyed AP Art History, and art classes with Kim Do-remove to Paris to pursue fashion design. Fashion, however, evenmembering him as "definitely one of my favorite teachers."
tually drew her back to architecture. Working on a shoot at the
Describing herself as "more of an arts type student" she greatly
labyrinthine Beekman Place townhouse of the late Paul Rudolph, enjoyed AP math with Chris Jones, as well as French in "Horace
Lee said she realized she "had to be a part of that world of creMann's super strong language program. I was really enthusiasation." An even earlier challenge presented itself to Lee during
tic about learning French. Later it helped me figure out how to
her student years at Horace Mann School.
speak German," said Lee, who maintained a Bureau V satellite
Entering HM in seventh grade Lee recalled being "in culture
office in Berlin for several years. "Having access to different
shock when I got to Horace Mann. I came from a public school
tongues is so important. Horace Mann nurtured that."
Once integrated into HM life, Lee developed a deep and
lasting value for its community. "I loved being at Horace Mann.
I made some really great friends there, people I'm still in touch
with. I enjoyed seeing everyone at my last reunion. I realize now
how privileged I am to have gone there and to be a part of the
HM community."
Community remains vitally important to Lee. Designing
"any type of institution that has a community aspect to it," is a
professional priority. "I particularly love ecclesiastical architecture. One of my dream projects is to design the enclosure for a
holy space of any kind," she said. For those who worship at the
temple of music and art, Stella Lee's vision of both creating and
celebrating community, fulfills a holy mission. $

Horace Mann Magazine Spring 2017

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