FORSTER ART STUDIO COMPLEX AT AUSTIN COLLEGE

SHERMAN, TEXAS | 25,000 SQFT | COMPLETED IN 2008

The design of the Forster Art Studio Complex is divided into two buildings, a two-story gallery, studio, and classroom building, and a single-story sculpture building with facilities for wood, metal work and ceramics.  The buildings are sited to create a shared central outdoor gathering place which also serves as a welcoming thoroughfare for the students of Austin College.  Set on the edge of campus, the studio and gallery building is placed directly on the north-south axis and is tall and slender in order to increase its presence in relation to the adjacent larger campus buildings.  The primary material is the traditional campus brick with very subtle mannerist details so as to both blend in but also express the Art Department’s individuality.  The project creates a sense of place within the whole serving both its immediate users and the rest of the campus.