The new Kent State Center for Architecture and Environmental Design has just opened. Designed by WEISS/MANFREDI, the 117,000 square foot building was the winner of an international competition. The soon-to-be LEED Platinum certified structure is intended to link the Kent State campus with the recently revitalized city of Kent through a continuous gallery and new esplanade. Additionally, the Center features a cafe, a gallery, a 200-seat lecture hall, classrooms and a library. On the top of the building is a 650-seat space dubbed the “Design Loft”. On the roof, an 8,400 square foot green roof manages storm water and connects the “Design Loft” to the surrounding area.

The building includes regional materials, specifically an iron-spot brick façade that was fired at a local kiln. On the north side, the building has a large glazed curtain wall that lets natural light into studio spaces. The south façade has a cantilevering staircase with views of the rest of the campus. Other parts of the building also play with visibility and lines of sight. A 200-seat event space, which will host classes, lectures, and crits, sits at the center of the ground floor in an oval-shaped glass bubble. The machine room is surrounded by a glazed mezzanine so that teachers can use the building itself as an educational tool.

“We created continuous sightlines throughout the building to unite spaces of creation and critique, enhancing the peripheral vision between students and faculty and encouraging dialogue across the design disciplines,” state Marion Weiss and Michael A. Manfredi.

Related:

• Mark Mistur named Kent State University College of Architecture dean
• Plans reworked for new Kent State architecture college
• KSU picks Weiss/Manfredi's "Design Loft" concept for its new $40 million architecture school building