Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Boise State Opens Center for the Visual Arts

  • 03/13/20

BOISE, ID – Boise State University recently celebrated the grand opening of the Center for the Visual Arts on its flagship campus in Boise, fulfilling a strategic vision to create a world-class destination arts center serving students and community members regionally and nationally.

Designed by HGA of Minneapolis and Lombard / Conrad Architects of Boise, the Center for the Visual Arts is prominently located on the west side of campus on Capitol Boulevard overlooking the Boise River and downtown skyline, positioned as a campus gateway that connects with the Idaho State Capitol Building, Historic Boise Depot, and the city’s many surrounding civic and cultural buildings.

Boise State Center for the Visual Arts

From the outset, the University envisioned the Center for the Visual Arts as a pivotal cultural link between the campus and the city to elevate its regional and national profile. Consolidating the 2D and 3D visual arts disciplines once scattered throughout campus, the design welcomes students as they head to class as well as community members passing by on Capitol Boulevard. The design evolved from a highly interactive pre-design and planning process involving visual arts professors, administrators, arts patrons, student representatives and other campus and community stakeholders who shared visions for the building. Early conceptual designs changed through subsequent iterations into a sculptural architectural expression that met the University’s vision for a world-class destination on par with facilities at leading institutions.

The 97,600-square-foot building includes a five-story studio, classrooms and office wing; a two-story exhibition gallery wing; and a two-story atrium that connects the two wings.

The five-story north wing contains artist studios, work spaces, and classrooms on four levels. The first level includes ceramics and sculpture suites with common access to an exterior work yard and ceramics kiln. The second level accommodates printmaking and metal work; the third level photography, graphic arts and art history; and the fourth level drawing, painting and art foundations.

The angular studio wing is clad in ¼-inch limestone veneer on flexible honeycomb panels that allow the façade to curve with the building form, while floor-to-ceiling windows provide artist studios with evenly diffused northerly light and views to the mountainous landscape beyond.

The exhibition gallery features visually dynamic blue stainless-steel tiles with a variegated surface that reflects the changing daylight from hour to hour and season to season.

Featured

  • Round Rock ISD Completes New Early College High School

    Round Rock ISD near Austin, Texas, recently announced that construction is complete on a new, 46,500-square-foot campus for Early College High School, according to a news release. The new facility will allow the school’s students and staff to move from portables into a permanent building and increase its enrollment to 500.

  • Full Sail University Announces First Student Housing Facility

    Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., recently announced that development has begun on its first student housing community, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Nvision Development for construction and long-term management of the facility, which will stand five stories and have the capacity for more than 570 beds.

  • University of Oklahoma Announces New Campus Master Plan

    The University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., recently announced that it will soon launch a new, comprehensive Campus Master Plan to guide the campus’ physical development during the next decade, according to a news release.

  • Northeastern University Breaks Ground on New Housing Community

    Northeastern University recently announced the groundbreaking of a new student housing community on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The university is partnering with American Campus Communities (ACC) for development of the project, which will have the capacity for 1,200 students and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.