Universities have come a long way
from old-school, cookie-cutter
studies in drab institutional design.
literally blur the boundaries between
community, students, creative disciplines, artists and floors, yielding an
airy building with some refreshing and
unexpected visual spatial links.
the opening is scheduled for 2011. the
Creative arts Center is staged to be “an
inventive, cutting-edge facility whose
dynamic design reflects its exciting
programming,” according to a representative of the university. basically,
this translates to a 36,000-square-foot
building that will house a 200-seat
recital hall, a state-of-the-art recording
studio and multipurpose production
studios (among other uses). Using
a variety of clean, modern materials (think equal parts sheer glass and
warm woods), the space is intended to
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL
OF DESIGN
Chace Center Museum of Art, 2008
José Rafael Moneo, Architect
from budding graphic designers to
printmakers to jewelry and textile artists, america’s great visual iconoclasts
of tomorrow have flocked to the rhode
island School of design since 1877. an
appreciation and understanding of all
things aesthetic is a common thread
at riSd—a quality that extends to
the school’s surrounding community.
hence, its new multiuse arts education
facility, the Chace Center, had to
respond to and complement the
school’s core values as well as its storied presence in the arts-obsessed city
of Providence, r.i. Created as a crossroads for all people—students, faculty,
staff, alumni and museum visitors—the
Chace Center offers a mutual and visual
touchstone for art appreciation.
