Fine Arts Center renovation in works for 2017

 

The University of Rhode Island Fine Arts Center renovation and remodel is “at the top of the list of priorities for fiscal year 2017,” J. Vernon Wyman, the assistant vice president of Business Services, said.

First outlined in the 2007-2011 Capital Improvement Plan, the project started as an outermost project, and has moved up in priority annually.

The renovations are slated to cost the university $71.5 million and will take a few years to complete. Wyman said the university is aiming to get the project on the ballot for bond approval in November 2016. They are seeking $68 million in bonds, and the remaining capital will come out of the state budget if they get voter approval.

Over the past few years, minor changes have been made to update the existing structure, including changes to the heating and ventilation systems, Wyman said. But as long as the funding is approved on the ballot, the plans will be set in motion to complete the new building renovations by 2019.

The university has just finished the advanced planning stage, where builders and architects surveyed the property and mapped out what changes they will make. Luckily, large scale renovations are in the works for the FAC.

Assistant Director of Campus Planning and Design Ryan Carrillo said that five inner sections, out of the 10 sections, or pods, will be demolished. Instead, there will be a large three-story building that will connect the five remaining outer pods.

Carrillo hopes that the newer glass-paned structure will bring a more inviting atmosphere to the arts building. He said that much thought has gone into renovating the outside of the building, to make it look more like a center for the arts.

“That was really one of the conflicts we faced,” he said. “Right now, it’s this cement bunker that’s falling apart. The space inside is all about arts…it’s about light and transparence, and should bring people in, [but right now] it doesn’t invite people in at all.”

Carrillo said the interior will be expanded so students have more private space away from the public areas to work.

“Visually it’ll be a grazed system, and will bring more natural light into studios,” Carrillo said. “It will provide a more conducive environment within these new structures.”

The existing theater and music halls will be retained, but Carrillo said they will be updated and renovated on the outside, while still keeping the feel of the current space.

All three departments housed in the FAC, art and art history, music and theater, will all receive updated facilities, including offices, labs, studios and classrooms.

Even the area surrounding the building will get a makeover. Next summer, Carrillo said that there are plans to renovate the parking lot and remove the half completed amphitheater in the north east side of the building.

The area was leased to a Greek organization about eight years ago, Paul DePace, director of capital projects, said. It was supposed to be the site of the Hellenic center, and built in traditional Greek style for academic and cultural programs. The organization defaulted on their lease, “and it is unlikely that the project will be finished,” DePace said.

Instead, the area will be used as a water feature, similar to the rain garden at the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences on campus. It will collect rainwater, but will do more than just act as a drainage ditch, said Carrillo.

“It not only stores the water, but cleans it and puts fresh water back into the ground,” he said. “It fulfills a utilitarian purpose, but also provides amenities to the area.

Plans are already hanging in the FAC for the new building, and students are eager for the changes. Lucas Tarantino, a sophomore music major, said the updates are greatly needed.

“We have only one regular classroom because the others are used as offices,” Tarantino said. “The practice rooms aren’t soundproofed. The concert hall isn’t a real auditorium. It was built for theater productions, and not concerts so there all kinds of things wrong like acoustics and lighting.”

Wyman acknowledges these updates are long overdue, but these changes won’t happen overnight.

“Everyone is appropriately impatient,” he said. “But we are certainly not shy about fixing the buildings that need it.”