Over the past few years, the University of Arkansas has created a new satellite campus for its arts programs, dubbed the Design District. As the last of the projects to be completed on the block, the Windgate Gallery needed to tie together the many solitary structures into a coherent and understandable whole with improved circulation, access, programming flexibility and overall visitor experience. We oriented the building diagonally in contrast to the orthogonal plan of the rest of the district and main street, to announce its presence, extend an invitation to those entering from the busy MLK Boulevard, and provide more green space for student and public use. The building will act as a visitor’s center to welcome and orient one to the rest of the district, as well as a student hub fulfilling the growing programmatic needs of the arts department.
The public galleries on the ground floor will be used to present rotating exhibitions, student art, and the University’s multidisciplinary visual arts research center. We took special care on establishing the adjacencies of the building programs to ensure efficient connections between the inner workings of storage and the galleries. In addition, six new visual arts classrooms, an auditorium and a new experimental media arts laboratory expand the departments teaching capabilities.
The Windgate Gallery is a teaching museum space for a University that is investing in its arts programs. It will complete a new campus with generous spaces that not only serve the University and its surrounding community, but also extends the school’s reach to an increasingly visible national and international audience.