(upbeat percussive music)
Well the legacy of the school is
considerable in the sense that: first MFA
program in the United States. What that
really means is that the work itself, the
work of art that was created is the
thesis piece.
The other thing that is a long legacy
of the school and this building
inherits is the "Iowa idea." The "Iowa
idea" being that art history and studio
practice are merged so that one
completes and complements the other.
The school's been blessed with an immensely
creative faculty over the decades
(upbeat music)
We became a center of focus for the
reception of great works of art. So the
Pollock "Mural" is probably the most
valuable cultural artifact of the state
of Iowa and it was donated to the school.
This building actually represents an
opportunity to build on that legacy in a
way that we could not have otherwise
do. The flood has been a challenge and
then some.
I think it affected enrollments. It was a
challenge for students to make a move
three miles away by bus, get to their
classes back and forth on time. And yet
we knew early on from the University's
commitment to the Arts on campus that
this building was going to happen. We
hope from the initial part that the
building would actually inspire the work
that was created in the building. We knew
that the building itself had to be a
work of art in order to command the kind
of performance that's necessary for the
school's legacy to continue.
Steven Holl
had a challenge when they came to this
building.The challenge was to make a
companion building to Art Building West.
Art Building West was a well-recognized
piece of architecture internationally.
Iowa's first building to be recognized
as the best piece of architecture for a
given year in North America.
Right from this moment when you first enter the
building the idea is that you would feel
that you didn't enter a building, you
entered space that keeps going.
They had a great challenge and they took
it up.
How do you make a building that doesn't
compete but complements is distinct and
carries a concept that's part of your
aesthetic ideal. And this building like
Art Building West is all about porosity
and light. It's that way because unlike
opportunities that other departments
have had where they've retrofitted
a building to reprogram
and grow, this building was actually made
for its purpose.
The building itself has five floors the
terrace, though has a curricular
function and that is students can go
outside and they can paint and they can
draw. The green roof has a high level of
energy efficiency.
It's believed that its energy efficiency
will more or less allow it to pay for
itself within five to seven years.
What we have is a building that is hands
down without hyperbole the best visual
arts studio building built anywhere on
the globe in the last half century.
