Art Building West

A Close-Up Look at Art Building West
by Wendy Moorehead (3/2006)

Art Building West, slated to be occupied in the spring, provides abundant photo opportunities. I had the opportunity to take a tour last week with Project Manager, Michael Thomas. From the remarkable staircase to the ponds and cliff, from the dramatic weathering steel facade to the massive solid steel truss members, this building is a photographer’s and artist’s dream.

Groundbreaking on this building was in May of 2003. The building is located across the street and north of the current Art Building on Riverside Drive. The building was designed by world-renowned architect Steven Holl as a signature building.

One of the more interesting coordination pieces in the construction process was the delivery and assembly of the solid steel truss members. The truss was fabricated in several parts in Minneapolis and shipped here on big trucks in sections up to 80 ft long.

In order to ensure a sufficient staging area necessary for the manlift, workers had to drain and fill in the pond. A 20 ft. radius was retained through the duration of the construction process. It has now been excavated and is in the process of filling.

Today, four custodians start work in the 67,000-square-foot building: Martin Downing, William Royston, Michael Conner, and Donald Hovet.

Walking into the building from the back entrance on the first floor the first thing you notice is the concrete terrazzo floor set against a backdrop of maple panel walls and floor to ceiling windows framing the pond and cliff. This is a place of creativity.

As you round the corner into the community forum, you can’t help but remark on one of the building’s most impressive attractions: the monumental staircase. The staircase is three stories and winds about this way and that much like the staircase at Hogwart’s Academy in the movie “Harry Potter”. When filled with students moving up and down the effect will be dramatic.

Heading upstairs to the library you get a full view of the building and pond from many different vantage points. The library features cork floors for sound acoustic comfort and a variety of seating venues to serve a multitude of study and research activities.

The graduate painting and sculpture studio takes full advantage of northern light through two large light monitors. Northern light is thought to be very desirable for creative spaces such as this. As the clouds pass by blue skies overhead, it’s easy to imagine being carried away with inspiration.

Even the faculty offices are rendered in filtered northern light from the channel glass windows. High ceilings contribute to the spacious feeling in a moderately sized room.

From many vantage points, the building looks back upon itself, engaging the occupant from a variety of angles. It has been described as “self-referential”. It constantly reveals itself and it’s surroundings in new and interesting ways.

A lone worker’s footprints in the snow along the pedestrian deck provide a hint of what will soon be a passageway and vista for many who visit, work, study, and teach in the building.

Art Building West.