Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Colorado State University: The Nancy Richardson Design Center

  • 09/01/19
Colorado State University 

PHOTOS © STEVE MAYLONE

The $19.2-million, 45,000-square-foot Nancy Richardson Design Center (RDC) on the campus of Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins opened in the spring of 2019. Colorado-based OZ Architecture was tasked with designing a world-class facility to further CSU’s mission as a national leader in design and to create a collaborative space for students and faculty in programs from interior architecture and design, apparel and merchandising, landscape architecture, art, and engineering to product development, entrepreneurship, and construction management.

A primary design driver was to create a space where students and faculty were inspired to ideate, make, and show their work. To that end, the RDC includes a lighting lab, color studio, fabrication labs with high-tech digital routers and milling machines for metal and wood, a prototyping lab with 3D printers and laser cutters, a screen-printing lab, an ultraviolet hybrid printer, textile printers, a seam welding machine, quilting and embroidery machines, a 3D scanner, a vinyl cutter, and a large-format printer.

OZ Interior Design Director Tracy Tafoya, an alum of the design program at CSU, staked a personal interest in creating something for the next generation of designers. “I wanted to be part of designing a place that reflects the high level of creativity and innovation we continue to see from CSU’s talented design students and graduates,” she says.

Communal elements such as garage doors off the fabrication labs open to an “oasis” where students are encouraged to work outdoors and allow transparency of the design process. Pedestrians traversing campus can also walk through a covered portal called “Inspiration Alley,” where glass walls provide a view into the gallery space and ideation lab, highlighting what is possible within.

This facility was made possible due to the support of Nancy and Curt Richardson, cofounders of OtterBox and Blue Ocean. Nancy is also an interior design graduate of CSU.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management September 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • UT-San Antonio Begins Residence Hall Renovations

    The University of Texas at San Antonio recently began a $6-million renovation project to one of its residence halls, according to a news release. Originally completed in 1986, Chisolm Hall measures in at 120,860 square feet and is the oldest and largest residence hall on campus.

  • Missouri Child Development Center Completes $2.3M Expansion

    The Urban Sprouts Child Development Center in St. Louis, Mo., recently announced the completion of a $2.3-million expansion and adaptive reuse project, according to a news release. The new space includes a retail café, outdoor learning space, and a support office building.

  • TCU Marks Campus Expansion Milestone

    Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a topping-out ceremony to mark progress on a major campus expansion effort including four new residential facilities and a five-story parking garage, according to a news release.

  • Texas A&M Opens First Building at Fort Worth Campus, Breaks Ground on Research Facility

    The Texas A&M University System marked a major milestone in the development of its Fort Worth campus by opening its first completed academic building and breaking ground on a second facility designed to expand research and industry collaboration.