CONTEXTO

Kent State University and the town of Kent were physically separate entities for nearly a century. Within the last decade, the two parties engaged in a joint venture to strengthen connections though a new pedestrian esplanade and green space. The Center for Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) building is located along this esplanade to establish a physical gateway between the town and the University. Sited strategically at this hinge between campus and city, the Design Loft forms a new hub connecting the college with the City of Kent. Anchoring the public level is a continuous gallery that opens to the university’s new outdoor Esplanade. With the five story urban buildings to the west and three story academic buildings to the east, the building connects these elevations with an ascending roofline that shelters the studios that ascend above the western triple height library and fabrication lab. The site’s twelve-foot elevation drop allows the lower level fabrication lab and shop to receive natural light. The town and campus buildings share an architectural identity of stone and brick buildings. Located near Belden brick’s Ohio manufacturing plant.

ACTUACIÓN

The ethos of the CAED program is focused on real world training, research and sustainability. The design exposes building systems throughout while incorporating various construction practices for the student’s benefit. The project employs a series of ascending, tiered studio loft spaces which are flanked by supporting research and testing labs, exposing the community of learners to an entrée of new ideas. With a LEED platinum requirement, the project developed features that allow students to track in real time the building’s ground source heating and cooling system’s efficiency. Additional sustainable elements such as native planting and rain water collection/reuse systems are integrated into the architecture and engage the public. The building’s massing strategically enhances student interaction within the school while solving site challenges. By stepping the building up in scale in juxtaposition to the site’s topography, the project simultaneously engages varying residential, commercial, and institutional conditions. To further integrate the project into the context, an historic iron spot brick was chosen to blend the campus and town chromatically. A custom asymmetrical bullnose fin was developed to enhance the façade's language and respond to historical precedents within the area. The north façade features large glazed areas of curtain wall that coincide with the tiered studios bringing in desired northern light and providing panoramic views of campus and town. This simultaneously highlights and displays the vibrancy of the design process to the public, creating a dialog that previously did not exist.