Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Dartmouth College: The Black Family Visual Arts Center

  • 08/01/15
Black Family Visual Arts Center at Dartmouth College

PHOTOS © ANTON GRASSL/ESTO

The Visual Arts Center marks the eastern entrance to Dartmouth’s campus and formalizes a mixture of significant buildings into a re-envisioned Arts Precinct. The 105,000-square-foot building stretches along Lebanon Street, where the institution engages the town of Hanover, NH. The project provides a formal lawn and hardscaped Arts Plaza, which invites the public to participate in a renewed focus on the arts at Dartmouth.

Designed by Machado and Silvetti Associates of Boston, the building consolidates Dartmouth’s Studio Art and Film and Media departments into a single facility for the first time in the college’s history, and provides spaces for a newly created Digital Humanities program. The facility houses sculpture, printmaking, photography, architecture, painting and drawing studios, as well as state-of-the-art film production, animation and editing spaces. At the heart of the facility is the Arts Forum, a central atrium space that brings light and air into the core of the urban block. The three-story space is designed to promote cross-disciplinary interaction and the collegial sharing of ideas.

On the ground floor, the public is welcomed to the Visual Arts Center through a lobby and 250-seat auditorium. Adjacent to the theater is a shared exhibition gallery where student and faculty work from both of the building’s departments will be displayed. The gallery and theater lobby are designed with large picture windows facing the street and Arts Plaza, to share the creative work of the college with pedestrians and the town. The use of exterior slate blocks and precast concrete panels throughout the ground floor makes the space an extension of the public sidewalk and Arts Plaza. Triple-glazed custom-fritted glass volumes on the building’s upper floor house the college’s Artist in Residence Studio and the All Campus Conference center as amenities for the larger campus community.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Building Beyond Simulation: Creating Immersive Ecosystems for Healthcare Education

    Health sciences education is one of the fastest-growing facility types in colleges and universities. The demand for medical, nursing, and allied health professionals is driving the creation and renovation of medical simulation training facilities that provide students with real-world experience through advanced simulation-based learning.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.

  • Washington State University Debuts New Engineering Hall

    Washington State University recently celebrated a dedication ceremony for the new Schweitzer Engineering Hall on its Pullman campus in Pullman, Wash., according to university news. The facility measures 66,288 square feet, and its completion marks the first milestone in a larger university effort to modernize the engineering and design district.

  • Back-to-School Playground Safety: 7 Common Hazards to Look for After Summer Break

    As summer break comes to an end, school administrators have plenty to prepare before students return. While classrooms, hallways and common areas often receive attention during all the back-to-school preparations, the playground should not be overlooked. Months of weather exposure, storms, and regular wear can leave behind hazards that may not be immediately noticeable.