$70 million CVAD building renovations now completed
The $70 million in renovations to the College of Visual Arts and Design building, intended to foster creativity and collaboration among students, was praised by Dallas Innovates who named CVAD as “one of the best art schools in the South and U.S.”
The four-story, 238,000-square-foot building was designed in a way that dean of CVAD Gregg Watts said he hopes will inspire the students and faculty who enter it.
UNT’s newly renovated CVAD building wraps around a central courtyard. Image by Will Baldwin
“We’ve worked with our architects to design a building that functions around creativity and collaboration,” Watts said to UNT. “There is an intentionality to the transparency, the wide corridors and the furniture that invites people to stay awhile, to experience what is being created and to discuss ideas — their application and their purpose to art and design.”
The building was “one of the most technologically advanced art facilities in the world,” according to a UNT press release. Students now have various tools to their disposal, like digital fabrication equipment, 3D scanners and printers, computer numerical control routers, laser cutters and engravers, plasma cutters and water jet cutters.
Drawing and painting senior Leigh Anne Wilson said she was pleased with the drawing and painting studios on the fourth floor.
“We get to use natural light from the windows, which helps out a lot with getting the colors right for paintings,” Wilson said. “We can also build our own canvas stretchers and cradled wood panels in the CVAD General Woodshop on the same floor, which is also great.”
Communication design senior Adeline Fortenberry said she was concerned with future enrollment and the CVAD building’s capacity.
“We’ve already outgrown this building in terms of available classroom space,” Fortenberry said. “They call it ‘one college one building’ but ceramics and fibers got left out. That being said, I don’t know how we ever survived in the old building.”
The college’s enrollment has increased 4 percent from last year, with 2,215 students participating in the 30 degree programs available, according to UNT data.
“While this new facility provides a wealth of opportunity for current and future generations of students, it also pays homage to the community that has been such an integral part of creating and growing the College of Visual Arts and Design,” Vice President for University Advancement David Wolf said to UNT. “We are celebrating all that is wonderful and new, and also honoring the past deans, faculty, alumni, and others who have left a lasting legacy in the College of Visual Arts and Design in creating the beautiful, caring, creative landscape we see today.”
Featured Image: A student walks in front of UNT’s newly renovated CVAD building. Image by Will Baldwin
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