UA begins work on Windgate Studio and Design Center in Fayetteville
by November 2, 2020 3:30 pm 2,522 views
The Windgate Studio and Design Center is under construction at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Hill Avenue in south Fayetteville. The center is expected to be completed in summer 2022.
The University of Arkansas School of Art recently broke ground on the four-story, 154,600-square-foot Windgate Studio and Design Center at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Hill Avenue.
The building will anchor the Windgate Art and Design District, located next to the School of Art’s existing sculpture facility on Hill Avenue. The center will bring the school’s studio art and graphic design programs together and triple the size of its existing classrooms and work areas.
In 2017, the School of Art received a $40 million gift from the Windgate Charitable Foundation to create the art and design district that will serve students, faculty, artists, designers and the community.
“We are thrilled to join the University of Arkansas School of Art in celebrating the groundbreaking for the new art building in the Windgate Art and Design District,” said Patricia Forgy, executive director of the Windgate Foundation. “The beautiful new facility will dramatically increase the space for the different art disciplines and also allow for interesting collaborations with the nearby Sculpture Studio. It’s a great time to be an art student at the U of A.”
The Windgate Studio and Design Center is expected to be completed in summer 2022 and open to students, faculty and the community that fall. It will include a coffee shop, courtyard and amphitheater, and offer exhibitions and events with visiting artists, designers and scholars.
“This center is a milestone achievement for art education and for the Arkansas community,” said Gerry Snyder, executive director of the School of Art. “Thanks to the Windgate Charitable Foundation we have been able to design a space that is all about connection and relationship. This space will bring students and faculty together from across seven different current campus locations and then unite these outstanding artists and designers with the community.”
Project designers are Minneapolis-based HGA, Fort Smith-based MAHG Architecture, and the general contractor is Little Rock-based Clark Contractors.