Steven Holl Architects Completes University Project
A terrace overlooking a pond will house a Richard Artschwager site-specific sculpture.
Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 8/29/2006
Iowa City will soon have a new university facility: Designed by Steven Holl Architects, the University of Iowa School of Art & Art History will open September 8. The $21.5 million glass-and-steel structure is a “hybrid instrument for the practice and analysis of art based on the idea of open edges and center,” says the firm.
Located on a landscape encompassing a pond and a limestone bluff, the 70,000-square-foot facility features a library within an elevated wing extending out over the pond, an outdoor terrace, an auditorium, classrooms, an art library, studios, an art gallery, faculty offices, meeting rooms, and a café. A suspended stair of red folded steel plates leads up into the building’s central atrium.
Interiors feature natural finishes, exposed materials, and glass walls both revealing works-in-progress within studio classrooms and drawing in natural light. In studio spaces, a concrete roof diffuses light and exterior balconies can be used as warm weather retreats by students and staff. A terrace overlooking the pond will house a Richard Artschwager site-specific sculpture.
“Walking into the new building is like walking around inside a work of art—it is truly an aesthetic experience, says Dorothy Johnson, director of the School of Art and Art History.
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