Yesterday, Steven Holl Architects broke ground on Franklin & Marshall College's new $29 million, four level, 35,000 square foot Visual Arts Building. The Susan & Benjamin Winter Visual Arts Center, named for the trustees who helped fund the project, will bring a wide range of teaching studios, galleries managed by the Phillips Museum of Art, classrooms, student and faculty work spaces, space for digital and analog film production and editing, and an 84-seat cinema that doubles as lecture hall and performance space.

Described by Holl as a "pavillion on the park," the design was heavily influenced by the numerous hundred-year-old-plus trees that populate the campus. "Raised kite-like into the trees, the building’s light profile is a concave response to the large diameters of the campus’ trees," describes the firm. Another prominent feature is a glass-enclosed forum in the center of the ground floor that will allow pedestrians on the campus side of the building to see through to the green landscape of Buchanan Park.

The project was made possible by funding from Trustee Benjamin J. Winter ’67 and his wife, Susan—who pledged a $10 million commitment, the largest single gift from an alumnus in the school's history. “Susan and I want to help build on F&M’s visual arts excellence with a facility that provides the space and tools as designed by one of the world’s great architects, Steven Holl,” Ben Winter said. “This is an inspirational project for an institution that inspires students.”

“The Winter Visual Arts Center will provide an inspiring resource for our students and faculty in Art & Art History and Film & Media Studies,” echoed President Daniel R. Porterfield. “In addition, it supports F&M’s talent strategy to recruit, educate and launch extraordinary student talent from every zip code in our country and around the globe. It also will transform the southern end of campus, connect the College and Buchanan Park, and support the City of Lancaster’s thriving arts culture.”