After occupying a lower-level space in one of Pratt Institute's athletic buildings, prospects are looking bright and shiny for Pratt's Film/Video Department as it settles into its new home on 550 Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn. The 15,000 square-foot facility was fully gutted and redesigned by WASA/Studio A, whose project team happens to include Pratt alumni like Jack Esterson as lead architect; senior associate Sebastian Touzet as partner-in-charge for design; and project architect Brian Dobrolsky. The $4.5 million renovation began last July.

Built using free-span trusses, the new space has 23-foot ceiling heights and no internal columns. Pratt Architecture Professor and artist Haresh Lalvani created a series of perforated metal panels that wrap around the entrance lobby and cover the walls of the first and second floors. The customized panels display Lalvani's signature eye-popping patterns that are typically seen in his sculptural works.

Formerly known as the Prattstore building, the new facility has screening rooms, studios, and editing facilities equipped with the latest technologies for the program's approximately 80 students to use -- and the large incoming freshman class for the 2015-16 school year. A larger facility might also mean the addition of new courses.

Faculty and students will have access to: a 96-seat screening room with a Digital Cinema Package projector and surround sound; a large soundstage capable of converting into two soundstages; a smaller 3,000 square-foot soundstage equipped with an infinity green screen; a sound recording studio with surround-sound capability; and two high-end color grading and post production suites.

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