The Art and Design building, designed by Ayers Saint Gross, is a $25 million, 88,000-square-foot, award-winning facility, which houses all School of Art studio instructional areas.
The facility nearly doubled the amount of space dedicated to studios, shops, and lecture classrooms and expanded gallery and exhibition preparation facilities. The introduction of Internet2 technology in lecture halls and studio spaces provides global opportunities for students to participate in and collaborate with artists on national and international projects, competitions, critiques, and discussions. Ayers Saint Gross, who lives in Washington, D.C., earned recognition with three distinctive awards for the design of the facility:
- The American Institute of Architects Baltimore, Maryland, 2008 Exceptional Design Award;
- the Honor Award for Design Excellence—2010 Fairfax County Exceptional Design Awards;
- and the 2010 American Institute of Architects Potomac Valley Design Award.