Farewell to the HFAC on BYU campus 

The programs most in demand in the College of Fine Arts and Communications weren't around when the HFAC was built - animation, graphic design, film, illustration and commercial music. These commercial arts are where students have been moving for the past decade. When the HFAC was initailly designed it was conceived as a place for music, drama, speech and art. The changing demand for majors coupled with the outdated performance halls made it cost prohibitive to save the HFAC. The HFAC has been my home for 17 of my 23 years at BYU. I have lived in the building. For two years, we studied how to save the buildng before looking at replacement. To bring the HFAC up to current building codes would have been expensive and it would have come at a cost of losing 25 percent of the academic space in the building. Buildings exist to serve students. The loss of space would have come to the detriment of students and would not have enhanced their learning.

As much as I understand the reasons for this, I honestly cried a little when watching this video. So many memories I can never revisit in person. R.I.P, HFAC; you were loved.

This was my favorite building on all of BYU campus. So many incredible memories and creative emotions. The news it was being torn down was upsetting and seeing it demolished makes me sick. I know it's just a building, but I wish we could find a way to preserve history and memorable architecture rather than just replacing it.

This was hauntingly sad. I spent so, SO many hours in the basement of this building, working on student films, and now it's just.....gone. RIP, I hope the new building is easier to navigate and has lots more helpful facilities for the students.

This hurts my heart. I worked on the stage crew for most of my college career at BYU and spent countless hours navigating the corridors and stairwells of the HFAC. I made new friends and discovered so much about myself in this building. I wish there was a more permanent, physical monument to the decades of service this building provided - more than just a video reviewing its demolition. I understand the need for upgrading buildings, and I know this building will be missed by anyone who wandered its confusing yet beautiful halls. RIP HFAC

Loved this building. Such good memories. While I don't love this the way I love other videos, I really appreciate the artistic farewell to a building so many of us loved so much. Farewell old friend 👋, and thank you so much for all those treasured moments with my wife, my friends, and even by myself

I spent many hours learning and working in that building as a communications major in the early 70's. Doing board shifts at KBYU-FM, live studio camera and KBYU-TV remote truck work all the way through graduation. Great times and memories.

End of an era! I spent many hours in that building. I look forward to seeing what's next.

As a student in the 70's and even now, I always loved exploring the network of hallways, stairways and back alleys in this building. I kind of felt like I was Phantom of the Paradise haunting the building like in the 1974 movie by Brian De Palma. What a waste of all that beautiful glass, wood and aluminum in the railings on the stairs and hallways. This is one building that will be missed

Every moment of this brought a tear to my eye.... so many memories.

I spent a lot of time in that building in the early 80's. It was new back then! Being a music major it makes me sad to see it come down.

Bittersweet. I practically lived in this building as a music major during the 80s. Happy for the new Music building, but watching this makes me feel old.

The beginning made me feel like I was watching a dystopian film with an abandoned city. I already made my peace with losing the HFAC (which was a big part of my college days) with the previous announcements, but it's still sad to see it go. Excited to see what replaces it, though. I hope it's a much less confusing layout. haha

Whaaaat? Why? This building is we’re my classes were! So many great memories!

“The new building will create proximity and more opportunities for collaboration and student mentoring,” said Ed Adams, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications. “Our faculty and staff are now spread over five floors and are located at the far ends of the Harris Fine Arts Center from each other.” Collaboration can happen, even when offices are across the building. If there were building integrity flaws, maybe. Mentoring can happen in an office or an unscheduled hall. It seems that the funds could have been better spent, imho. It was a grand building, too soon gone.

Why? I had cherished memories there. Why demolished beautiful building? My link to the past there..😶

Probably this is the way it always is in the industry, but I’m so surprised have a little seem to of been salvaged and re used. For example, if given the opportunity, I would think lots of people would be interested in buying the old railings and glass panels, to use in an outdoor deck or something. There are probably all kinds of liability issues that make that unfeasible, but it’s a shame. What a waste.

Goodbye to an old friend!

I cannot quantify the number of hours I spent in this building - mostly in the basement directing student newscasts at KBYU and other activities during my college days. (89-94) Sad day.

The Lord tears us down, so He can then build us up to be better. As much as it pains me to lose this beautiful building, the memories will never be lost and I look forward to seeing the completion of the new one 😇

Sad so sad tearing down such a great building.

Kind of breaks my heart

Soo sad. But good at the same time because of what's coming next. But woww, nice shots! Is this the one by Matt or Jacob?

Honest question: what about the basement level(s)? Are they just leaving the dirt and rubble to pile on top of it, and then build the new building on top of that? Didn’t the stages and theaters extend into the basement level and lower? All I see here is clearing the above ground portion of the building. Sorry. Genuinely curious.

We will rebuild.

Great work !!!

was this work done during class time or when the school was on break?

Sad in a way, but it allows a brighter future!!!

I can't believe that in 6 years at BYU I never had a single class there!

I miss listening to Ray Arbizu and Clayne Robinson… . 😢

And I agree with others, demo is not a tribute.

"Amid the Ruins" says my BYU Today email that linked to this today. Why do we delight in the destruction? What is the macabre impulse here? A farewell for a person involves seeing & remembering the good in who they were when they were alive, not video closeups of embalming in a morgue. There was a vast amount of creation--art, music, theater--in these halls. Why not instead show a highlight with the life that was in them rather than showing the lone chair and abandoned offices as they tumble out of the destroyed building? When I've seen similar "celebratory" videos for what they've done to Temple Square, it has been similarly both disturbing and confusing. Who delights in seeing & showing these destructions? These ruins? I've never seen any other organization quite as happy to highlight demolition. Not sure what that says about us as a community.

Oops! Forgot my backpack in there!

Why can't Americans build something that lasts more than 40 years? The American mindset of bulldozing the old and building something new instead every few decades keeps us from having a sense of history, at least where architecture and physical structures are concerned. All great civilizations have left structures: Rome, Egypt, Greece, Byzantium, Incas, Aztec, etc. Unfortunately, American civilization will leave no impressive physical structures behind for posterity, as even skyscrapers are leveled after a few decades to make way for new ones. We are a consumer society that throws away the old to make way for the new-and at the same time discards vestiges of our past.

What a stupid, poorly-designed, beautiful, claustrophobic, magical building.

While not a perfect comparison, it does make me think of this classic commercial: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dBqhIVyfsRg.html