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
| Aug 11, 2010
SSOE, Fluor among nation's largest industrial building design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Industrial Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Best AEC Firms of 2011/12
Later this year, we will launch Best AEC Firms 2012. We’re looking for firms that create truly positive workplaces for their AEC professionals and support staff. Keep an eye on this page for entry information. +
| Aug 11, 2010
Manitoba Hydro Place, Tornado Tower among world's 'best tall buildings,' according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat last week announced the winners of its annual “Best Tall Building” awards for 2009, recognizing one outstanding tall building from each of four geographical regions: Americas, Asia & Australia, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. This year’s winners are: Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg, Canada; Linked Hybrid, Beijing, China; The Broadgate Tower, London, UK; Tornado Tower, Doha, Qatar.
| Aug 11, 2010
Call for entries: Building enclosure design awards
The Boston Society of Architects and the Boston chapter of the Building Enclosure Council (BEC-Boston) have announced a High Performance Building award that will assess building enclosure innovation through the demonstrated design, construction, and operation of the building enclosure.
| Aug 11, 2010
CampusBrands Inc., NYLO Hotels team to launch student housing franchise brand
Which would you choose: the cramped quarters, thin mattresses, and crowded communal bathrooms of dormitory life or a new type of student housing with comfortable couches, a game room, fitness center, Wi-Fi in every room, flat-screen televisions and maybe even a theater?
| Aug 11, 2010
Perkins Eastman awarded Indian School of Business campus
The New York office of international design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman has been commissioned by the Indian School of Business for a 70-acre, 1.5 million-sf new business school campus as part of a 300-acre “Knowledge City” in Chandigarh, Mohali, India. The sustainable campus will accommodate four centers of excellence: healthcare management, public policy, manufacturing/ operations, and physical infrastructure management.
| Aug 11, 2010
Portland Cement Association offers blast resistant design guide for reinforced concrete structures
Developed for designers and engineers, "Blast Resistant Design Guide for Reinforced Concrete Structures" provides a practical treatment of the design of cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures to resist the effects of blast loads. It explains the principles of blast-resistant design, and how to determine the kind and degree of resistance a structure needs as well as how to specify the required materials and details.
| Aug 11, 2010
Harvard Law School Wood-Framed Houses
Cambridge, Mass.
A century ago, majestic Victorian homes lined Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, but few of these grande dames still survive. Harvard Law School owned three such beauties, which they used for office and research space. Unfortunately, the houses occupied prime real estate on which the school planned to build a new academic center. Rather than raze the historic wood-frame homes, the law school made it a priority to repurpose them.
| Aug 11, 2010
Gensler, HOK, HDR among the nation's leading reconstruction design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 100 Reconstruction Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
