Bertram and Judith Kohl Building

exterior image and sign for the Kohl Building
The Bertram and Judith Kohl Building and the skybridge that connects it to the Robertson Hall of practice rooms.
Photo credit: Bryan Rubin ’18

Oberlin Conservatory unveiled the sleek and modernistic Bertram and Judith Kohl Building, which serves as home to jazz studies as well as programs in composition, musicology, and music theory. Opened in 2010, the Kohl Building is connected to the conservatory complex by a ground-level plaza and a third-story, glass-walled, cantilevered section.

Kohl includes flexible rehearsal and performance spaces, teaching studios, practice rooms, music archives and exhibits, and instrument storage. It also houses the superior recording studio Clonick Hall as well as the conservatory library’s Special Collections, which has the largest privately held collection of jazz recordings in the United States.

Earning a LEED Gold designation from the U.S. Green Building Council, the Kohl Building is a cornerstone of Oberlin’s commitment to environmentally sustainable building practices. It honors the late Wendell Logan, professor of African American music and founder of Oberlin’s jazz studies program.

Watch “The Architecture of Jazz: A Tour of the Kohl Building”