St. Catherine's Arts and Innovation Center Published in Richmond Times Dispatch

The new Arts and Innovation Center was written up in the Richmond Times Dispatch.  There are some great quotes from the St. Catherine's Head of School and a few board members and parents.  See the link and expert from the article below:

http://m.richmond.com/news/local/education/article_4ea176f5-df23-54f3-aaf3-5b71993523a2.html?mode=jqm

St. Catherine’s School, an all-girls private school founded in 1890, is eying another expansion on its Grove Avenue campus in Richmond’s West End.
     “In the midst of our 125th anniversary, we are given the opportunity to honor our past and to prepare for the future,” Terrie Hale Scheckelhoff, head of St. Catherine’s, said in an emailed statement. “We are in the beginning stages of addressing zoning that will enable the school to make enhancements on the existing campus footprint.”
     The project likely would include a new building to house an Arts and Innovation Center, a turf field and a parking deck for 200 cars, Scheckelhoff said.
     Christopher H. Williams, the chair of the St. Catherine’s board of governors, said the parking deck likely would be built underground and the field would sit on top of it, based on preliminary designs.
    The turf field would accommodate soccer, lacrosse and field hockey, Williams said. The school also would continue to use athletics facilities in Goochland County.
     As for the new arts facility, Scheckelhoff said the McVey Theatre, which was built in 1937, no longer fits the needs of the school.
    “The arts program is very important to our girls and their families,” said Williams, who has two graduates of St. Catherine’s and one daughter currently attending. “I think this facility will take it to the next level.”
     St. Catherine’s moved to the Grove Avenue campus in 1917.
     Last week, the school invited parents to attend a meeting to discuss plans to “fully develop the underutilized back third of our campus.”
     The Virginia-based architectural design firm Bartzen + Ball PLLC is designing the project. Details such as the cost, timeline and building square footage were not available, Scheckelhoff said. The school will need to raise money for the project.
     St. Catherine’s conducted a fundraising campaign from 2008 to 2013 that raised $40.4 million. It resulted in more than 100,000 square feet of new and renovated space, the conversion of dormitory spaces for use as classrooms and learning areas, and a renovated and expanded dining hall.
     Updates also were made to three historic buildings on campus, and science facilities were expanded.

Thoughts on the Kimbell Museum

From Tut Bartzen on his recent trip to the Kimbell Museum

I have attached a few pictures that I took, as part of a school project, of the Kimbell Museum.   The assignment was to document, as best we could, the “essence” of what made your favorite building an exceptional work of architecture.  I’m not sure that I could define the “essence” of the building at that point, but I knew it had something to do with order.   So, I superimposed each detail image over the concrete grid at the base of the building. 

I recently had a chance to visit my hometown of Ft. Worth, Texas.  While there, I made another visit to the Kimbell.  This Kimbell is a very special place to me.  I realized that when I lived in Texas, I may have taken this building for granted.  I could go and spend time there anytime I wanted, and I did, but I noticed that the passage of time has had an interesting effect on my perception of the building, and its place among other buildings that I admire.  It could be simply, that after practicing architecture for nearly 30 years, I can now more fully realize what an accomplishment this building really is.

Most great buildings have subtle indications of the cultural time frames in which they are built, and some buildings seem to be deliberately counter to the cultural time frames in which they exist.  To me, one of the strengths of the Kimbell is that it somehow manages to exist outside of this frame of reference.  The Kimbell seems to occupy a unique place which is primitive and advanced, ancient and modern. 

Someone once remarked to me that it is interesting to approach a design anticipating what the building will become as a ruin.  In other words, after it is been reduced to its barest essence, will it still convey its sense of place or purpose?   It is interesting to think about Kahn’s greatest achievement in these terms, as it surely will. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

WFS DHCR TIme Lapse Video

Drone Project at WFS DHCR

Teaching students "how to think rather than what to think" is at the very heart of Woodberry Forest School's curriculum. Coming in right at 65,000 SF, the new Math, Computer Science, and Dining building will feed both the body and the mind of their growing student body.

With an exterior that complements the existing 1880's architecture, the interior material selections, ornate trim design, and distinctive Woodberry elements would all mark this new structure as historic. However, the state-of-the-art AV package and stainless steel kitchen facilities are clearly indicative of a school committed to honoring the past while embracing the future.