When Larry Thompson became President of Ringling College of Arts & Design, Sarasota, Fla., 16 years ago, it had 850 students. Thompson recalls worrying, at the time, about the viability of the school’s business model. “Private schools that survive are those that move into the top tier,” he says.
So his administration drew up a strategic plan in 2004 that focused on investing in technology, and defraying the cost by increasing its enrollment. Within three years, the school had expanded to 11 majors, from seven, and was on its way to growing its student body to 1,300, where it stands today.
To support that growth, Ringling has engaged in an aggressive building campaign, with some projects providing revenue streams.
Its first new building, completed in 2006, was a 75,000-sf student center with a rent-generating residence hall. An entire floor of the facility was allocated for computer animation and game art, which has since emerged as a major program. The walls are decorated with posters of movies that alumni have worked on. “It became an important part of Ringling’s branding,” says Thompson.
Interior of Ringling's new $18 million, 46,000-sf library. Click image to enlarge.
In 2010, the college completed a 75,000-sf academic center primarily for new majors, which included one of the country’s first business-art design programs. One floor of the building is dedicated to motion design, others to graphic design and drawing studios.
Apparently, the school’s investment is paying off, as U.S. News & World Report in 2014 cited Ringling as America’s “most wired campus.”
The college isn’t finished expanding, either. It has four construction projects under way:
- An $18 million, 46,000-sf library, scheduled to open this fall, that is designed by Shepley Bulfinch to adapt to new technologies as they emerge.
- The Richard and Barbara Basch Visual Arts Center, designed by Sweet Sparkman Architects and scheduled to open by year’s end. It will house advanced tools and facilities for woodworking, glass, ceramics, printmaking, photography, and digital fabrication, in addition to gallery space.
- A 25,000-sf film soundstage and 5,000-sf post-production space, designed by DSDG Architects. When it opens next year, the space will expand the campus’s Studio Lab program, which brings industry professionals to Sarasota to mentor students.
- The Sarasota Museum of Art, designed by Apex Studio Suarez, with The Lawson Group as architect of record. It is an adaptive reuse of a historic high school that hadn’t been used in 20 years. When it opens in early 2017, one third of the 57,000-sf building will be used for museum exhibits, with the rest of the space allocated to continuing education—again, another revenue stream. (For most of its projects, Ringling uses Willis Construction as its GC.)
The museum wasn’t in Ringling’s original strategic plans. But, as Thompson explains, “it presented an opportunity for us to tap into the Sarasota community,” many of whose members collect art and engage the campus.
When Thompson presented the museum project to the school’s board, “I told them to think of it as our football field,” in terms of revenue potential. “They got it.”
The Richard and Barbara Basch Visual Arts Center. Click image to enlarge.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Sep 21, 2015
Vietnamese university to turn campus into ‘terraced forest’
Pockets of plantings will be dispersed throughout the staggered floors of the building, framing the expansive courtyard at its center.
University Buildings | Sep 21, 2015
6 lessons in campus planning
For campus planning, focus typically falls on repairing the bricks and mortar without consideration of program priorities. Gensler's Pamela Delphenich offers helpful tips and advice.
Mixed-Use | Aug 26, 2015
Innovation districts + tech clusters: How the ‘open innovation’ era is revitalizing urban cores
In the race for highly coveted tech companies and startups, cities, institutions, and developers are teaming to form innovation hot pockets.
University Buildings | Aug 13, 2015
Best of Education Design: 9 projects named AIA Education Facility Design Award winners
Georgia Tech's Clough Commons, Boston's Berklee Tower, and seven other facilities were honored for aiding learning and demonstrating excellent architectural design.
Giants 400 | Aug 7, 2015
UNIVERSITY SECTOR GIANTS: Collaboration, creativity, technology—hallmarks of today’s campus facilities
At a time when competition for the cream of the student/faculty crop is intensifying, colleges and universities must recognize that students and parents are coming to expect an education environment that foments collaboration, according to BD+C's 2015 Giants 300 report.
Contractors | Jul 29, 2015
Consensus Construction Forecast: Double-digit growth expected for commercial sector in 2015, 2016
Despite the adverse weather conditions that curtailed design and construction activity in the first quarter of the year, the overall construction market has performed extremely well to date, according to AIA's latest Consensus Construction Forecast.
University Buildings | Jul 28, 2015
OMA designs terraced sports center for UK's Brighton College
Designs for what will be the biggest construction project in the school’s 170-year history feature a rectangular building at the edge of the school’s playing field. A running track is planned for the building’s roof, while sports facilities will be kept underneath.
University Buildings | Jul 21, 2015
Maker spaces: Designing places to test, break, and rebuild
Gensler's Kenneth Fisher and Keller Roughton highlight recent maker space projects at MIT and the University of Nebraska that provide just the right mix of equipment, tools, spaces, and disciplines to spark innovation.
University Buildings | Jul 2, 2015
Design for new pavilion in Toronto includes a ‘peel-away’ façade
An architect's proposal for a renovation of the main office building at the Ontario College of Art and Design features a façade that fans out from the edges of the building, like it’s opening up to visitors.
University Buildings | Jun 29, 2015
Ensuring today’s medical education facilities fit tomorrow’s healthcare
Through thought-leading design, medical schools have the unique opportunity to meet the needs of today’s medical students and more fully prepare them for their future healthcare careers. Perkins+Will’s Heidi Costello offers five key design factors to improve and influence medical education.