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Arkansas Arts Center Picks Studio Gang to Design Expansion, Renovation

4 min read

The Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock announced Tuesday that it has selected Studio Gang of Chicago and New York to be the design architect for a $46 million museum expansion and renovation.

Little Rock voters approved a 2 percent hotel tax in February that Arts Center Executive Director Todd Herman said would generate between $30 million and $32 million for the project. The remaining costs would be funded through private donations.

In all, the project will renovate the center’s existing 90,000 SF facility and add about 40,000 SF of new space. Herman said the next step is to negotiate a contract with Studio Gang and select a local architect to collaborate with the firm.  

Herman said projects like this usually take about five years from the naming of an architect to opening. He said construction crews could break ground in late 2018.

Herman said the Arts Center is the oldest arts facility in the state, bringing creative and artistic experiences to families for more than 50 years. The Little Rock facility saw 327,833 visitors in the 2015-2016 fiscal year. 

“It’s taken its toll on the building … the children’s theater, some of the seats are broken and the carpet’s worn,” he said. “And the lighting system is outdated, and the rigging system. It just needs to be updated to today’s standards.

“In addition to that, people’s expectations of cultural centers like ours have changed. They use them differently. They used to be considered — if you go back to the 19th century — they were temples to the arts. There was this reverence when you walked in and an expectation of quiet contemplation.”

Herman said people today want the center to be a “cultural living room,” where they can relax and be surrounded by creativity. He added that the center is also designed to face away from nearby MacArthur Park, and that he’d like to see the center facing and interacting more with that public space.

Studio Gang and 22 others responded to the center’s request for qualifications, and the local architect will be selected the same way. An RFQ for the local architect will be released later this month, according to a news release from the Arts Center.

According to the design architect RFQ, the center’s goal for this project “to have a sustainable building that enriches the creative and inspirational activities within, augments our institutional mission and vision, and is a catalyst for increased enjoyment and activity in historic MacArthur Park.”

Studio Gang was one of five finalists that presented to the selection committee on Nov. 1. The others were Allied Works of Portland, Oregon and New York; Shigeru Ban of New York, Paris and Tokyo; Thomas Phifer of New York; and Snohetta of Oslo, Norway, New York and San Francisco.

In the news release, Herman said the selection committee chose Studio Gang because it was the best fit, with their “elegant and smart approach to architecture, their understanding of the issues posed by the AAC’s current facility, their vision for the center as a cultural beacon for central Arkansas and their commitment to sustainability and strength as urban planners.”

“What they’re going to do first, now that we have architects on board, is they’re going to come in and spend some time evaluating this building to determine what kind of renovations it can withstand, what kind of expansions it can withstand, what areas are worth renovating, what areas are not worth renovating, how we’re utilizing the space we currently have,” Herman told Arkansas Business. “So there will be a full forensic analysis of this building first.”

Herman served on the search committee, as did City Director Dean Kumpuris; Director of Little Rock Parks and Recreation Truman Tolefree; AAC Board Chair Mary Ellen Irons; AAC Board members Isabel Anthony, Van Tilbury and Chucki Bradbury; AAC Foundation Chair Bobby Tucker; Little Rock Small Business Development official Chauncey Holloman; and past Director of the Central Arkansas Library System Bobby Roberts.

A technical review panel recommended finalists to the selection committee. The panel included Herman; AAC Chief Curator Brian Lang; architect Ken Sims; Dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture Peter MacKeith; Chair of the AAC Buildings and Grounds Committee Kaki Hockersmith; and international museum consultant Deborah Frieden.

Studio Gang was founded by MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, who was named the 2016 Architect of the Year by the The Architectural Review. The firm also won the 2013 National Design Award and the 2016 Architizer A+ award for Firm of the Year.

The firm has worked on the Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois, the Aqua Tower in Chicago and the expansion of the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

“Designing a re-envisioned Arkansas Arts Center is a truly exciting commission,” Gang said in the release. “Its extraordinary collection, historic MacArthur Park setting and rich mix of programs present a unique opportunity to redefine how the arts can strengthen local communities and surrounding regions.”

Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said the enhanced Arts Center will offer opportunities for a higher level of exhibits, classes, children’s theater productions and events.

“It is well known that businesses looking to locate or expand, look at a city’s quality of life offerings,” Stodola said. “An enhanced Arkansas Arts Center will be a showcase which will enable us to attract and retain quality job creators in a variety of sectors.”

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