Weitz Center for Creativity in Northfield, Minnesota by MSR (Meyer, Scherer, & Rockcastle)

Article source: MSR (Meyer, Scherer, & Rockcastle)

From its earliest inception, Carleton College’s Weitz Center for Creativity was imagined as much more than an arts building. While it does create much-needed new exhibit and performance spaces, the Weitz Center’s true mission is to serve as a working laboratory for creativity—not only in the arts, but across the entire curriculum. It positions the College as a national leader in arts programs by creating an environment that fosters creativity, critical thinking, collaborative working skills, and cross-cultural exploration. An adaptive reuse of and addition to a former middle school, the new Weitz Center for Creativity houses the departments of studio arts, dance and theater, and cinema and media studies.

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

• Architects: MSR (Meyer, Scherer, & Rockcastle)
• Project: Weitz Center for Creativity
• Location: Northfield, Minnesota, US
• Photography: Brandon Stengel and Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Brandon Stengel

It incorporates classrooms; art studios; the IdeaLab; the Presentation, Events and Production Support (PEPS) center; the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching (LTC); gallery spaces; a teaching museum; performance spaces; a sandbox classroom; white spaces; and other collaborative spaces. The 1936 and 1954 additions to the former middle school have been converted into dance studios, a studio theater, a drawing studio, a gallery space, theater support spaces, and a cinema. The 1910 building has been renovated into classrooms, faculty studios, the LTC, Idea Lab, PEPS center, cinema and media studies spaces, seminar rooms, a sandbox classroom, and a large meeting room. The addition to the building complex features a new entry, commons, and the teaching museum galleries. The project has been designed with future expansion in mind.

Image Courtesy © Brandon Stengel

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Image Courtesy © Lara Swimmer

Tags: Minnesota, US

Categories: College, Creation Centre, Exhibition Center

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