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Professor Ray K. Mann and Five College Associate Professor Naomi Darling received unanimous approval from the Amherst Town Council to advance their design for a performance shell on the town common. Mann and Darling won a design competition in 2018 for the new venue on the location originally identified by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1874 when initial designs for the Amherst Green were developed.  The design’s form and strength are informed by an origami-like back-and-forth pleating of a piece of paper. It will be constructed out of engineered timber and a steel frame over a local stone stage and will be surrounded by a rain garden. Groundbreaking is anticipated in 2023.