The recently completed Design and Media Center at Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a dramatic new addition to the Avenue of the Arts on Huntington Avenue. Designed by Susan T. Rodriguez of New York-based Ennead Architects and constructed by Boston’s Walsh Brothers, this $40.4 million project marks a major higher education commitment of the Baker Administration.
Supporting the creative industries in Massachusetts, the Design and Media Center will be a laboratory for interdisciplinary learning as well as a space for collaboration with cultural and commercial research partners.
As the curricular structure of higher education becomes increasingly de-siloed and greater emphasis is placed on collaboration, campuses are creating new learning environments to bring together formerly separate disciplines around areas of research. Just as with new integrated science and engineering centers built on many campuses today, the Design and Media Center is intended to foster cross-disciplinary research similar to MIT’s Media Lab or Stanford University’s D School. Bringing together the disciplines of design, marketing, communication and product development, this new center places this type of research front and center for the commonwealth.
Comprised of 70,000 square feet of new space for the college, the Design and Media Center will become the college’s new formal entrance, connecting for the first time all of the college’s adjacent buildings and providing full accessibility to campus.
The design for MassArt’s new Design and Media Center establishes a new identity and welcoming threshold for the college along Boston’s “Avenue of the Arts,” connecting for the first time all of its adjacent buildings and providing greater accessibility to campus. The center is designed to not only enhance the quality of collaborative teaching spaces for the college but also to reveal the vitality of the art and design community within, translating Mass Art’s spirit of design innovation and aspirations for its cross-disciplinary curriculum into a four-story, state-of-the-art flexible system of studios, galleries and shared technical spaces.
Marriage Of Old And New
Located at a critical intersection of campus and city, within a dense urban block comprised of a wide range of buildings from different eras, the new center is built upon the historical foundations of an early 20th century structure. The design weaves together old and new with the transformation of a former brick gymnasium into a renewed, glass-enclosed, monumental volume. Its transparent new face to the city is a dramatic shift from the opacity of the original building and establishes a dynamic collaborative environment, a new front door and crossroads at the heart of campus. Now a distinct and visible presence on Huntington Avenue, the center, supported by a series of four king-post trusses and punctuated by an entry vestibule along the eastern edge, extends into a new public plaza that blurs the distinction between interior and exterior space.
Marking the entry to the building, a double-height lobby creates a memorable focal point upon arrival. A choreographed sequence of stairs and ramps orients visitors to the major public spaces within, improves internal circulation and ushers visitors from the lobby into a triple-height public atrium which serves as the central exhibition space. A concentration of mixed-use studio spaces, galleries, critique spaces and a lecture hall form a backdrop for major exhibitions.
On multiple levels above the atrium, a series of walkways link the program spaces throughout the center; a crenelated ceiling completes the space with a rhythmic series of skylights that animate the interior with daylight throughout the day. A new studio volume directly above the lobby is clad in a diaphanous screen of perforated metal that filters the southern light. The center also includes new technical spaces for sound and light and a new wood shop on the lower level that serve the entire campus.
This newly day-lit environment, along with energy efficient systems, local and recycled materials, and enhanced envelope performance will also contribute to making the overall campus increasingly sustainable. The building is designed to achieve LEED silver certification and is in compliance with Massachusetts Executive Order 484.
Cameron Roberts, AIA, is the founder of Prometria, a research and design consultancy, and a professional advisor to MassArt. Susan T. Rodriguez, FAIA, is a partner in Ennead Architects and the designer of MassArt’s new Design and Media Center.
