Architect seeks a more inviting Arts Center

June Freeman asks a question during a community forum Tuesday afternoon with the architects of the planned expansion of the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.
June Freeman asks a question during a community forum Tuesday afternoon with the architects of the planned expansion of the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.

As the Arkansas Arts Center embarks on a $46 million expansion and renovation, the project's lead architect said she hopes to make the "fortresslike" building more inviting while tying it in with its surroundings.

photo

Jeanne Gang shows slides of previous projects by her fi rm, Studio Gang Architects, during a forum at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock on Tuesday. Studio Gang is the lead architect for the center’s planned expansion.

Jeanne Gang, founder of the national architectural firm Studio Gang, on Tuesday addressed more than 50 people who gathered at the Arts Center, giving a presentation about her firm and past projects before taking questions. Gang in 2016 was named architect of the year by The Architectural Review, an international magazine.

"We want to do these diverse projects that have impact," Gang said. "That's what drew me to the Arkansas Arts Center. It's a project that already has a lot of good things going for it, but it seems that the facility itself is kind of holding the organization back."

The architectural team, which includes the Little Rock firm Polk Stanley Wilcox, will host multiple community forums before mapping out the expansion, Arts Center Executive Director Todd Herman said.

In a project timeline, the Arts Center has termed the next four months the "discovery and programming" part of what is ultimately a 20-month design phase. The timeline projects the new Arts Center will open in May 2022.

Gang explained in depth how her team designed three projects: a writers' theater, a boardwalk, and a residence hall and dining commons.

Although those projects differ from the Arts Center in utility, the broad manner in which they mesh with their surroundings and draw on regional history applies to how the firm will approach revamping the Little Rock museum, she said.

The writers' theater, for example, was built with large glass panes and wood trusses, making it almost transparent from the outside. The residence hall complex serves as a curved route from the University of Chicago campus into a nearby neighborhood. The firm's work is online at studiogang.com.

June Freeman of Little Rock, who served as the Arts Center's director of state services in the late 1970s, asked Gang to consider diverse communities sprinkled throughout Little Rock when determining how to make the Arts Center engaging.

"We are a city of many communities, or at least people describe themselves in that way," said Freeman, who after the meeting said there's a "sense of exclusion" at the Arts Center despite it being open to the public with no admission cost. "How can you be as inclusive as possible?"

A 10-question paper survey distributed at the meeting asks questions such as: "Is the museum easy to navigate?" and "Does the [Arts Center] feel like part of the neighborhood?" Other questions ask about favorite exhibits, whether visitors bring out-of-town guests to the center and how often the respondent uses adjacent MacArthur Park.

After the meeting, Gang said she likes to solicit community input before starting a design, and she and Herman have said the goal is to turn a building that seems to retreat from its neighbors into one that welcomes them.

"Clearly, the building is kind of closed to the surroundings and inward-focused and feels somewhat fortresslike," Gang said. "It would be our goal to try to make it feel more accessible, more open, more welcoming."

Architects will consider how to improve MacArthur Park and tie it in with the renovated museum, Gang said, noting that the project budget may not be enough for the Arts Center to execute those plans on its own.

"We'll definitely be offering more thoughts on that as we go forward, and maybe there can be different budgets that it could be part of in order to see something happen there," Gang said.

The Arts Center has estimated that construction costs will total $46 million -- not including so-called soft costs such as the design contract and consultants' fees. The project proposes the renovation of 90,000 square feet, new construction of 40,000 square feet and landscaping work.

Little Rock voters approved a $37.2 million bond issue last year, funded by a 2 percentage-point increase to the city's hotel tax, to pay for the expansion project.

A recently launched capital campaign has raised $2.5 million for the project, Herman said.

The Arts Center has identified a need of $50 million in private donations to cover the project's full cost and expand its endowment, which the nonprofit Arkansas Arts Center Foundation controls.

Architects are compiling a list of consultants -- in engineering, plumbing, fire safety, landscaping and other areas -- who will conduct a thorough inspection to determine the existing building's critical needs, Herman said. Those needs, and how much they will require of the project's budget, should be known by June, he said.

The Arts Center will negotiate the architectural contract with Studio Gang and Polk Stanley Wilcox once the consulting team is in place, according to a signed letter of intent obtained Tuesday by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The letter of intent, which was finalized Tuesday, covers the period from Jan. 1 until March 6 and is the document that authorizes the Arts Center to pay Studio Gang for work completed prior to the finalized contract. Both parties can agree to extend the letter of intent.

Studio Gang may be compensated up to $102,000 over the term, or about $1,600 a day, a ceiling that includes travel costs and general reimbursable expenses, the agreement says. Herman has said these preliminary costs would be deducted from the ultimate contract.

Also Tuesday, the Arts Center announced it gained reaccreditation from the American Alliance of Museums. The distinction, which lasts for 10 years, followed a "detailed and in-depth" review of the museum, Herman said.

The alliance's accreditation commission considers a yearlong self-assessment and an on-site review by nationwide peers before deciding whether to request more information or grant or deny accreditation.

Of an estimated 35,000 museums nationwide, more than 1,000 are similarly accredited.

Six other Arkansas museums hold the designation: Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock; the Arkansas State University Museum in Jonesboro; the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff; the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock; the Old State House Museum in Little Rock; and the Rogers Historical Museum in Rogers.

Metro on 03/01/2017

Upcoming Events