Studio Gang has completed the Gray Design Building, the new home of the University of Kentucky’s College of Design. In partnership with K. Norman Berry Associates Architects, Studio Gang has turned a former tobacco warehouse into a contemporary facility for interdisciplinary learning and collaboration.
“Extending the lifespan of existing buildings is one of the most significant ways we can limit our impact on the environment and broaden the creative potential of architecture,” Jeanne Gang, founding partner of Studio Gang, said in a statement. “Our goal was to bridge the building’s past and future by preserving its distinct character while renewing it as a place where creativity can thrive through collaboration.”
Combining the building’s historic qualities with modern features, the project transformed the industrial structure from a single-use setting into a multipurpose space for education and collaboration.
The 132,000-sf, three-story repurposed building offers flexible indoor and outdoor spaces for learning and making. Upon entry, visitors encounter a new central staircase. On the ground floor, gathering spaces include a flexible classroom, gallery for student and faculty work, and double-height lecture hall. On the upper levels, the open-floor plans use the original timber columns as well as mobile walls and furniture to define each studio space.
A new outdoor fabrication dock connects with an interior workshop, providing an indoor-outdoor area for large-scale making and for displaying work. A structural canopy over the fabrication dock allows students to work outside comfortably.
By retaining the structural components, the reuse project reduces the building’s embodied carbon. The Gray Design Building uses several efficient features, such as a new geothermal well system, that will lower its energy use by an expected 70% to 80% compared to a conventional higher education building. Along with the structural canopy, new trees will decrease heat gain and contribute to passive cooling.
The Gray Design Building was formerly the Reynolds Building. Built in 1917, the Reynolds Building operated as a tobacco warehouse for over four decades before the University of Kentucky acquired it in 1959.
Now, for the first time in its history, the College of Design will house its four programs in one building. Located on an underused edge of the campus, the Gray Design Building also strengthens the university’s connection to downtown Lexington.
On the building team:
Owner: University of Kentucky
Design architect: Studio Gang, Chicago
Architect of record: K. Norman Berry Associates Architects
Structural engineer: Brown + Kubican
MEP/FP engineer: CMTA
Construction manager: Turner Construction
Related Stories
| Apr 12, 2011
College of New Jersey facility will teach teachers how to teach
The College of New Jersey broke ground on its 79,000-sf School of Education building in Ewing, N.J.
| Mar 23, 2011
After 60 years of student lobbying, new activity center opens at University of Texas
The new Student Activity Center at the University of Texas campus, Austin, is the result of almost 60 years of students lobbying for another dedicated social and cultural center on campus. The 149,000-sf facility is designed to serve as the "campus living room," and should earn a LEED Gold certification, a first for the campus.
| Mar 18, 2011
Universities will compete to build a campus on New York City land
New York City announced that it had received 18 expressions of interest in establishing a research center from universities and corporations around the world. Struggling to compete with Silicon Valley, Boston, and other high-tech hubs, officials charged with developing the city’s economy have identified several city-owned sites that might serve as a home for the research center for applied science and engineering that they hope to establish.
| Mar 15, 2011
What Starbucks taught us about redesigning college campuses
Equating education with a cup of coffee might seem like a stretch, but your choice of college, much like your choice of coffee, says something about the ability of a brand to transform your day. When Perkins + Will was offered the chance to help re-think the learning spaces of Miami Dade College, we started by thinking about how our choice of morning coffee has changed over the years, and how we could apply those lessons to education.
| Mar 11, 2011
University of Oregon scores with new $227 million basketball arena
The University of Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena opened January 13 with a men’s basketball game against USC where the Ducks beat the Trojans, 68-62. The $227 million arena, which replaces the school’s 84-year-old McArthur Court, has a seating bowl pitched at 36 degrees to replicate the close-to-the-action feel of the smaller arena it replaced, although this new one accommodates 12,364 fans.
| Mar 11, 2011
Historic McKim Mead White facility restored at Columbia University
Faculty House, a 1923 McKim Mead White building on Columbia University’s East Campus, could no longer support the school’s needs, so the historic 38,000-sf building was transformed into a modern faculty dining room, graduate student meeting center, and event space for visiting lecturers, large banquets, and alumni organizations.
| Mar 11, 2011
Texas A&M mixed-use community will focus on green living
HOK, Realty Appreciation, and Texas A&M University are working on the Urban Living Laboratory, a 1.2-million-sf mixed-use project owned by the university. The five-phase, live-work-play project will include offices, retail, multifamily apartments, and two hotels.
| Mar 11, 2011
Slam dunk for the University of Nebraska’s basketball arena
The University of Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball programs will have a new home beginning in 2013. Designed by the DLR Group, the $344 million West Haymarket Civic Arena in Lincoln, Neb., will have 16,000 seats, suites, club amenities, loge, dedicated locker rooms, training rooms, and support space for game operations.
| Feb 23, 2011
The library is dead, long live the library
The Society for College and University Planning asked its members to voice their thoughts on the possible death of academic libraries. And many did. The good news? It's not all bad news. A summary of their members' comments appears on the SCUP blog.