Project Description
FROM AIA NATIONAL:
The Visual Arts Facility (VAF) at University of Wyoming consolidates the University’s fine arts program from its scattered locations throughout the campus — addressing the limitations of the former facilities while providing students and faculty the resources to facilitate their exploration in the fine arts. The building is designed to be state-of-the-art, competitive, accessible, and sufficiently flexible to accept program and technological evolution. Sited adjacent to the Wyoming State Art Museum, the VAF is a key component of the campus’s new arts precinct. Complementing the archival and display nature of the museum, the VAF includes facilities for art history instruction along with studios and labs for ceramics, sculpture, painting, drawing, small metals, printmaking, graphic design, and digital arts. Faculty studios, public gathering spaces, critique and display areas, and a gallery that converts to a black box address the additional needs of the art department. The art faculty and students find great inspiration in Wyoming’s extraordinary environment of big sky, rocky buttes, and dynamic winds, and often head outdoors to work. As such, the building is intended to be equally engaging – allowing occupants to experience the outdoor environment from within while at the same time creating quality interior experiences.