Fay Jones School to Celebrates Vol Walker Hall Renovation, New Steven L. Anderson Design Center

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A ceremony to rededicate the renovated Vol Walker Hall and dedicate the new Steven L. Anderson Design Center addition will be held at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, on the west side of the building.

The Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas will celebrate the completion of a construction project more than three years in the making on Thursday, Sept. 12. The renovated Vol Walker Hall and the new addition, the Steven L. Anderson Design Center, will be rededicated and dedicated, respectively, at 4:30 p.m. on the west side of the addition.

The campus community is invited to join the school in this celebration.

Scheduled speakers include Chancellor G. David Gearhart; Ethel Goodstein-Murphree, interim dean of the Fay Jones School; Steven L. Anderson, president of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation; and Brandon Bibby, a fifth-year architecture student.

The 34,320-square-foot design center addition is made from limestone panels, steel, architectural concrete, Arkansas white oak and glass. Added to the 56,635 square feet in Vol Walker Hall, the total space in the building is now 90,955 square feet. According to current estimates, the project cost was a little more than $36.6 million. About 54 percent of that total went toward the renovation of Vol Walker Hall, with about 46 percent going toward the addition.

This state-of-the-art facility – which includes several design studios, a computer lab, a design shop, a lecture hall, a securable exhibition gallery, student and faculty lounge areas, and a green roof – will help enhance and expand the top-notch education already provided by the school's faculty and administration.

Vol Walker Hall was built in 1935 as the university's library. Since 1968, it has served as home to the architecture school, though some programs of the school have been located in other campus facilities during that time. The renovated historic building plus the significant addition allows the school, for the first time, to accommodate the faculty and students all of three disciplines – architecture, landscape architecture and interior design – along with support staff, in a shared space.

Being in one place will finally allow the Fay Jones School to have a clear, cohesive, strong identity as a design school. Though it has happened at various points, collaboration also will be possible like never before in this combined space. Collaboration is an important part of the school's strategic plan, and it is a major trend in research and how professional design firms operate.