Shepley Bulfinch will be designing a new library for Ringling College of Art + Design in Sarasota, Florida, as a “locus for learning” for the design school’s creative community.

The new library is a milestone project for Ringling, which has expanded significantly in recent years, and will be the first building executed as part of the College’s campus master plan. The 50,000 square foot library, which will be located on a new site on campus, will quadruple the space of the present 12,000 square foot Kimbrough Library, which opened in 1980.

The design team is ...[more]

Design is now near completion for a new science facility for Colby College, with plans to break ground later this year.

The 36,400 square foot building on the Waterville, Maine, campus, will be home to the departments of computer science, mathematics and statistics, and psychology, with teaching and research space that will include robotics and psychology labs, seminar rooms, and classrooms.

In keeping with its commitment to the environment, Colby will pursue LEED Silver certification on the new building. It is scheduled for completion in 2014.

The science building is part of the implementation of Colby’s ...[more]

Colleges and universities that are looking for ways to improve energy efficiency and resulting cost savings are realizing that some habits start from the ground up, as discussed in “How to achieve a tight building envelope,”� which appears in the June 2012 issue of College Planning & Management.

In the article, Jonathan Baron talks about the value to owners of investing in building component mock-ups and building commissioning, as well as the importance of evaluating the compatibility of different materials used in creating the building envelope.

Jonathan’s remarks on building ...[more]

A significant part of our practice as architects is to convey abstract, mostly visual design concepts in ways that make them accessible to a wide range of people, most of whom are not fluent in architectural drawing conventions. We are so focused on visual representation that we are often shocked when the audience does not understand the basic experiential qualities of the spaces we are trying to convey.

How can we help clients and future users understand what it will be like to interact within a building that only ...[more]

Detroit celebrated its new home for pediatric specialty care today with blowing bubbles, a youth chorus, and a marching band at the Grand Opening of Children’s Hospital of Michigan Specialty Center on the campus of the Detroit Medical Center (DMC).

The $43 million specialty center represents the first completed structure following Vanguard Health Systems’ acquisition of DMC and marks the first major expansion for the campus in nearly 30 years.

The ceremony included remarks from DMC CEO Michael Duggan; Vanguard Chairman and CEO Charles Martin; and DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan ...[more]