Archives

1. Utah Valley University Browning Administration Building Clinic, Classroom & Faculty Facility

   This reconfiguration of Utah Valley University’s Brown Administration Building addresses a domino effect of new construction on campus that resulted in portions of the building becoming available for new purposes. The design team provided test fits to determine how the space could be used most efficiently to support room for future growth. The project was expedited to coordinate it with the schedules of new building openings, demolition of other buildings, and the academic calendar. The design incorporates the university’s brand identity and wayfinding into a mix of spaces, including a student hub, hangout and study spaces, student collaboration area, classrooms, faculty offices, a clinical therapy suite with a public lobby, therapy rooms, observation rooms for teaching, and clinical offices.

2. Utah Valley University Foreign Language Department Student Hub & Liberal Arts Garden

   This project involved renovating space that opened up as the result of other departments moving to another location. The building houses Utah’s most robust ASL program. The renovation creates a strong identity for the department and maximizes interaction and collaboration among students across departments. The design transforms a completely enclosed space into a hub that is transparent on both sides, providing spaces for active student programming, hanging out, and group and individual study. It features acoustical recording booths where students can create content. MSR Design also developed high-quality graphics and signage for wayfinding and visual identity.

3. Haverford College Visual Culture, Arts & Media (VCAM) Building

   Haverford College’s new Visual Culture, Arts, and Media (VCAM) building repurposes a gym built in 1900 into a vibrant 21st-century learning environment. The design preserves the old gym’s central, two-story vaulted space, while inserting a three-story, object study/media production classroom and creating a new living room for the campus. All primary program spaces open onto and animate the heart of the building—a three-story remnant of an indoor running track—that now functions as campus family room with kitchen, community table, display area, projection wall, and movable furniture. Classrooms, labs, offices, and presentation spaces encourage trans-disciplinary collaboration and experimentation in digital media, film, 3D fabrication, and material culture. The project is certified LEED-NC v. 3 Gold.

4. Drexel University College of Media Arts and Design URBN Center

   The respectful repurposing of a landmark Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates (VSBA) decorated shed provides a new home for Drexel University’s College of Media Arts and Design (CoMAD). Key goals driving the project included bringing disparate CoMAD departments together in one location and encouraging cross-collaboration between disciplines. To transform the office building and annex (once a daycare center), the design concept focuses on respecting the original intent, making more with less, and providing opportunities for learning by doing.

5. Carleton College Weitz Center for Creativity

   The Weitz Center serves as a working laboratory for creativity—not only in the arts, but across the entire curriculum. It positions the college as a national leader in arts programs by creating an environment that fosters creativity, critical thinking, collaborative working skills, and cross-cultural exploration. An adaptive reuse and expansion of a former middle school complex, the center houses the departments of studio arts, dance and theater, and cinema and media studies. It incorporates classrooms, studios, a teaching museum, performance spaces, and state-of-the-art collaborative spaces.

    

    

    

6. Wooddale Church Youth Center

   This renovation turns closed space inside-out and provides access to daylight for all classrooms and gathering spaces. New wayfinding and circulation paths create community connections, while providing secure spaces for pre-K and elementary school youth. Energizing color, playful graphics, and complementary materials establish variety and help navigate visitors to various areas and activities. The church knitting club also enjoys meeting on the spinner seats in the new space, demonstrating that all ages can find inspiration in environments that stimulate creativity and learning.