The Challenge The Addition and Renovation to the Bedford Hall Arts Building at Longwood University included three main goals:
-To meet the President's mission to "put the arts on display"
-Maximize a tightly constrained site by creating an architecture"tailored to fit"
-Supporting the Visual Arts program with natural light
The Context The character of the solution is derived from its contextual placement on campus, the light industrial nature of the visual arts program, and its specific requirements for natural light.
The Program The Bedford Hall project includes a 26,242 square foot renovation to the original 1970?s building and a three-story 47,000 square foot addition for the Visual Arts. Eleven studios are designed to house each art discipline. Classrooms and lecture spaces vary from a large one hundred seat art history lecture to smaller seminar rooms. A prominent student gallery, informal lobby exhibit and studio display exhibit the student creativity. The project also updates all building systems.
The Site The site is defined by two buildable areas adjacent to Bedford Hall. The additions were inserted in these defined areas as two extensions of the Bedford plan. In an urban way, with minimum setbacks from adjacent buildings, the addition threads between structures creating a three part arts plan on three levels. Based on this conceptual approach, studios are oriented to welcome natural light from the north. The plan reaches out towards Brock Commons with the gallery and campus entry. The resulting configuration creates a series of courts that support the arts program and center the Arts Precinct on campus. Working courtyards expand studio space on the lowest level.
The Parti Studios with cleaner processes, less systems demand and reduced need for daylight are relocated in the renovated Bedford plan. The new studios are stacked on three levels with the dirtiest and those needing the most service on the lowest level. Daylight is invited into studios by the translucent glass facade and skylight oriented to the north. Opening onto Brock Commons, the south courtyard creates a performance and gathering space for the arts precinct.
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