Designed by Steven Holl, Virginia Commonwealth University's new Institute for Contemporary Art is set to break ground next month.
The 32,000-sf building will facilitate art, theater, music, dance, and film performances, in collaboration with the VCU School of Arts.
The building has one entrance facing the city of Richmond, Va., and another facing the VCU campus, making the facility a point of connection between "town and gown," according to Design Boom.
Inside, an atrium will act as the central focal point. Individual galleries will extend outward from this hub. Visitors can make their way through the building by way of three connected levels of gallery space.
The walls will be pre-weathered with a satin finish in order to fit in with structure's urban setting. Clear and translucent glass divisions will allow natural light to enter in the daytime and will make the building a beacon of light during the nighttime.
Holl's design includes several sustainable features. Green roofs provide insulation and absorb storm water runoff; geothermal wells heat and cool the building.
The complex is slated to open its doors in 2016.
Holl's design essay:
Sited at the edge of the Virginia Commonwealth University campus in Richmond, Virginia, the new Institute for Contemporary Art will link the University with the surrounding community. On the busiest intersection of Richmond at Broad and Belvidere Streets, the building will form a gateway to the University with an inviting sense of openness.
The main entrance is formed by an intersection of the performance space and forum, adding a "Z" component to the "X-Y" movement of the intersection. The torsion of these intersecting bodies is joined by a "plane of the present" to the galleries in "forking time."
The idea of "forking time" suggests that in the world of contemporary art there are many parallel times. The notion of one ongoing time and its "grand narrative" of history is questioned. The new Institute for Contemporary Art is organized in four galleries, each with a different character.
With its inviting double-fronted forum opening to a serene sculpture garden, the 38,000 sq ft building will provide spatial energy for the most important cutting-edge contemporary art exhibits. Propelled by VCU's top-ranked School of the Arts, the ICA's architecture is an instrument for exhibitions, film screenings, public lectures, performances, symposia, and community events, engaging the University, the city, and beyond.
The Building Team includes:
Architect: Steven Holl Architects
Associate architects: BCWH Architects
Structural engineer: Robert Silman Associates
Mechanical engineer: Arup
Landscape architect: Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture
Lighting consultant: L'Observatoire International
Audio/visual consultant: Convergent Technologies Design Group
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Wisconsin becomes the first state to require BIM on public projects
As of July 1, the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities will require all state projects with a total budget of $5 million or more and all new construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more to have their designs begin with a Building Information Model. The new guidelines and standards require A/E services in a design-bid-build project delivery format to use BIM and 3D software from initial ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Opening night close for Kent State performing arts center
The curtain opens on the Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center at Kent State University in early 2010, giving the New Philadelphia, Ohio, school a 1,100-seat multipurpose theater. The team of Legat & Kingscott of Columbus, Ohio, and Schorr Architects of Dublin, Ohio, designed the 50,000-sf facility with a curving metal and glass façade to create a sense of movement and activity.
| Aug 11, 2010
Residence hall designed specifically for freshman
Hardin Construction Company's Austin, Texas, office is serving as GC for the $50 million freshman housing complex at the University of Houston. Designed by HADP Architecture, Austin, the seven-story, 300,000-sf facility will be located on the university's central campus and have 1,172 beds, residential advisor offices, a social lounge, a computer lab, multipurpose rooms, a fitness center, and a...
| Aug 11, 2010
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
| Aug 11, 2010
Luxury Hotel required faceted design
Goettsch Partners, Chicago, designed a new five-star, 214-room hotel for the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The design-build project, with Saudi Oger Ltd. as contractor and Rayadah Investment Co. as developer, has a three-story podium supporting a 17-story glass tower with a nine-story opening that allows light to penetrate the mass of the building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Three Schools checking into L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel site
Pasadena-based Gonzalez Goodale Architects is designing three new schools for Los Angeles Unified School District's Central Wilshire District. The $400 million campus, located on the site of the former Ambassador Hotel, will house a K-5 elementary school, a middle school, a high school, a shared recreation facility (including soccer field, 25-meter swimming pool, two gymnasiums), and a new publ...
| Aug 11, 2010
New Jersey's high-tech landscaping facility
Designed to enhance the use of science and technology in Bergen County Special Services' landscaping programs, the new single-story facility at the technical school's Paramus campus will have 7,950 sf of classroom space, a 1,000-sf greenhouse (able to replicate different environments, such as rainforest, desert, forest, and tundra), and 5,000 sf of outside landscaping and gardening space.
| Aug 11, 2010
U.S. firm designing massive Taiwan project
MulvannyG2 Architecture is designing one of Taipei, Taiwan's largest urban redevelopment projects. The Bellevue, Wash., firm is working with developer The Global Team Group to create Aquapearl, a mixed-use complex that's part of the Taipei government's "Good Looking Taipei 2010" initiative to spur redevelopment of the city's Songjian District.
