Project Description
FROM AIA VIRGINIA:
The architect was retained to
rehabilitate the former Richmond Terminal Depot into a collaborative,
multidisciplinary space for VCU’s School of the Arts. The project transformed a
significant historic property in downtown, Richmond, VA, into a facility for
student, faculty and community engagement. Built in 1907, the Richmond Terminal
Depot was constructed to serve the Richmond and Chesapeake Bay Railway. The
railway proved unprofitable and by 1938, the property was purchased by the
Richmond Glass Company. The site consisted of four buildings: the large
terminal/storefront building facing Broad Street and three storage buildings to
the rear, two of which were connected during the rehabilitation with the
construction of a new infill addition.
The rehabilitation delivered more
than 37,000 square feet of space for the rapidly growing arts school. Prior to
the completion of the Depot project, the VCU School of the Arts did not have a
facility in which to flourish. To create a modern arts facility within this
historic building, the adaptive-reuse was designed to respect the character and
adhere to the unifying vocabulary of the former depot. With open voluminous spaces
and raised ceilings, the early 20th-century depot building was well suited for
the innovative design required by VCUarts.
The facility houses flexible
interdisciplinary workspaces, studio classrooms, offices, lounge, and
conference room. The building also includes the Depot Gallery, which features
exhibits of student artwork, a state-of-the-art motion capture studio and
coffee shop. The buildings at the rear of the property, “The Annex,” now house
a dance studio for the VCU Department of Dance, a sound editing studio for the
Department of Kinetic Imaging, and the Multi-Purpose Production Room. The
infill addition provided much needed locker rooms and storage rooms for the
dance department.
More than 100 years after its construction,
a building that once served as a transportation terminus now serves as a hub
for the arts in Richmond. The rehabilitation of The Depot revitalizes a stretch
of Broad Street and serves as a catalyst for further re-development of adjacent
buildings.