New RISD Student Center a Design Disappointment in Providence: Architectural Critic Will Morgan
William Morgan, GoLocalProv Architectural Critic
New RISD Student Center a Design Disappointment in Providence: Architectural Critic Will Morgan
A new student center at the Rhode Island School of Design ought to be a major event.
But, except for a curving facade of perforated metal bursting out the back of 20 Washington Street, there is little to alert Providence to RISD's latest building project.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
The student center is the work of WORK Architecture Company, an avant-garde firm based in New York City.
WORKac proclaims that the student center reflects the "need for universities to be more student-focused." They also say that their building improves the quality of student life. RISD touts the 20,500-square-feet addition for its "flexibility," which often codes for ineffective.
WORKac principals Dan Wood and Amale Andraos inserted their student center into the former Providence Washington Insurance Company, a handsome, four-story, U-shaped, Georgian-style block built-in 1949.
They ingeniously used the void within the arms of the building to create the only external manifestation of their work.
Or, as one professor noted, "a bit of spaceship modern dumped into the parking lot."
This curving metal-screen on Steeple Street is distinctive, but it makes no attempt to acknowledge the brick mass behind it.
The architects disingenuously claim that their giant metal eyebrow recalls "the arches of the historic buildings of Providence."
This is the business end of the building.
Trucks bring mail to the postal facility here and unload on the busy street.
The mailroom is an acknowledgment of the role that online retail plays in student lives these days.
Attached to the mailroom is a student area called the "unpacking space," a nod to the notion that receiving packages from Amazon is a "social institution."
Yet there is no real indication that this is the student center.
The building is not open to the public. (I was escorted from the building by a staff member, saying I could be a thief or a pervert.)
So members of the RISD community enter a truncated hallway, running perpendicular to Washington Street.
What one immediately notices are the orange color accents.
Why orange? Home Depot? A phone store in a mall? A retro 1970s vibe?
The main entrance presents visitors with an awkward processional shift. Does anyone sit on these carpeted steps?
Any architectural historian would recognize the curved and white walls as references to Finnish master Alvar Aalto.
But actually, it was Erik Bryggman's 1940 funeral chapel in Turku, Finland that arguably supplied the inspiration for the half arch supported by short columns.
Beyond the puzzling entrance is the large open lobby space.
WORKac defined this as "a floating wall with openings to various facilities," which "wraps in on itself to create a protected space."
Curtains can divide the space, but they do not block out the hard-surfaces-enhanced noise, making the lobby less than ideal for meetings or crits.
This public space is less than uplifting. Flexible, as in open, and mostly used by Admissions, the space is characterless.
Some students described the student center as "garish" and "inappropriate."
RISD has, nonetheless, gained a centralized place for mail and various services.
But the biggest draw of the student center is the unisex lavatory.
The single bathroom was designed "to create safe communal space inclusive of all gender expressions."
This was created with the involvement of the Queer Students of Architecture Planning and Preservation at Columbia University (where Andraos is the dean)
The bathroom consists of six private water closets.
Each is a "different color and shape celebrating the bathroom's symbolic refusal to force users into fixed gender boxes."
In the center, sinks of different configurations shape the "communal washing experience."
Equally embarrassing is the overall impression of cheapness and shoddy construction.
There are superfluous details that will be difficult to maintain.
RISD has a design committee that can request qualifications from as many as a dozen architects.
Yet, WORKac was a disastrous choice for this costly conceit.
The firm's self-affirming architect speak should have thrown up red flags.
"Wood and Andraos hold unshakable lightness and polemical optimism as a means to move beyond the projected and towards the possible."
What does that even mean?
Why was RISD snowed by such nonsense? The explanation, sad to say, maybe that RISD could be less interested in creating good architecture than they are about polishing their image as a trendy, with-it place.
19 to Watch in 2019 - FULL LIST
Angie Armenise
Chef and co-owner of Blackie’s Bulldog Tavern in Smithfield, Angie Armenise has it all going. Expansion to a new and larger location, a wonderfully loyal customer base and a big stack of awards -- and more to come in the new year. READ MORE
Marcela Betancur
Marcela Betancur, the new head of Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University and will be the power behind Latinx think tank in 2019.
Betancur, a Central Falls native, most recently worked READ MORE
Brian Goldner
No one will influence the psyche of Rhode Island more this year than Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner. After the loss of the PawSox to Worcester and the closing of Rhode Island’s beloved Benny's in 2017, Rhode Islanders are a bit raw.
He is poised to announce that Hasbro is...READ MORE
Cortney Nicolato
New United Way of Rhode Island President and CEO Cortney Nicolato succeeded Anthony Maione in 2018 — and takes on her first full year at the helm of the social service organization in 2019.
She is a Rhode Islander turned Texan returned back to Rhode Island. The Pawtucket native is all about Rhode Island and is passionate about helping to improve issues of housing affordability and the quality of education in RI. She is the mother of two elementary school-aged children. READ MORE
Sabina Matos
It is the rise of the Phoenix in Providence. On Monday, Sabina Matos won back the Presidency of the Providence City Council and returns to the top legislative position in the City of Providence.
As Providence goes so goes Rhode Island. Matos will be faced with taking on some of the most difficult issues in the state. READ MORE
Jamie Bova
The Newport City Councilor At-Large lined up the votes to votes for Mayor after being elected to just her second term on the Newport City Council this past November.
Bova, an engineer who grew up in Middletown, attended URI, and moved to Newport in 2012, succeeds Harry Winthrop as the city faces major changes ahead for 2019, including the construction of a new hotel on Thames Street — and more hotel proposals in the pipeline — and READ MORE
Jennifer Wood
The former private practice attorney turned top government aide turned non-profit director might have her biggest — and most public — battle on her hands in 2019.
RI Center for Justice Executive Director Jennifer Wood joined GoLocal News Editor on GoLocal LIVE where she spoke to the next steps after filing a federal class-action lawsuit in late November on behalf of all Rhode Island public school students to establish the right, under the U.S. Constitution, to an adequate education to prepare young people for full civic education.
Catholic Church Sex Abuse Survivors
In 2018, Bishop Tobin with the Diocese of Providence landed on GoLocal's “18 to Watch” as the Catholic Church was — and continues to remain — at the center of lawsuits pertaining to the collapse of the St. Joseph pension fund.
He’ll remain squarely in the spotlight — and not for good — in 2019, when he has pledged to release a list of names of abusive priests “credibly accused” over the years in the Diocese, as pressure mounts nationally for how sexual abuse claims were handled around the country — READ MORE
Matt Voskuil
One of Newport’s most iconic — and upscale — dining locations has a new look, a new chef — and people are taking note not just in Newport, but beyond.
Executive Chef and Director of Food and Beverage, Matt Voskuil at the newly opened Cara at the Chanler READ MORE
David Torchiana
The most powerful person in healthcare in Rhode Island may soon be a man who rarely visits the state and few here know his name.
Dr. David Torchiana is the CEO of Partners HealthCare and he is poised to push through an acquisition of Rhode Island’s second largest hospital group, ending the local control over three of Rhode Island’s most important healthcare assets. And, the deal has the potential of putting in peril thousands of Rhode Island jobs through consolidation. READ MORE
RI GOP Party Chair
Rhode Island Republican Party Chair Brandon Bell was defeated in his run for the General Assembly in 2018.
Republican Cranston Mayor Allan Fung lost in his second attempt at the Rhode Island Governor’s office, after a bruising primary that saw former opponent and House Minority Leader opt to endorse former Republican-turned-independent (and honorary chair for President Donald Trump’s campaign in Rhode Island) Joe Trillo. READ MORE
Anthony Baro
Anthony Baro heads Newport-based PowerDocks — one of Rhode Island’s most interesting startups. It is a market-making green tech company that, in many ways, combines the best of Rhode Island.
The emerging maritime renewal energy company is having an impact in the U.S. and globally. READ MORE
Blake Filippi
Blake Filippi is the new House Minority leader and is a fresh-faced leader for the GOP in Rhode Island. But, he faces a number of challenges. READ MORE
Desmond Cambridge
Brown University sophomore basketball player Desmond Cambridge has been a human highlight film his first year and a half on College Hill. He won Ivy League Freshman of the Year and this year he is READ MORE
Sarah Markey
South Kingstown School Board member Sarah Markey has been at the center of controversy since her election in November.
Markey, a top labor leader for the RI National Education Association, has drawn criticism by Democrats, Republicans and multiple municipal attorneys because READ MORE
Peter Neronha
Peter Neronha, the new Attorney General, takes over for the controversial Peter Kilmartin. The former U.S. Attorney for Providence now faces a far busier assignment than his federal one. READ MORE
Dylan Conley
Dylan Conley seems to be everywhere. Recently, GoLocal featured the attorney as one of Rhode Island's "Emerging Leaders."
He is the chairman of the Providence Board of Licenses and is in a hotbed READ MORE
Mike McGovern
Chef Mike McGovern -- formerly the chef at Red Stripe -- is taking the helm at East Greenwich's Kai Bar -- and now 241 Main Sports Bar and Grill.
Kai Bar is a combination of small plates and big drinks, “Kai offers a rotating small plates menu from an award-winning Chef and Craft Cocktails READ MORE
BIg Tourism Voids
Tourism is one of the most important sectors of the Rhode Island economy and two of the most important positions in the state are now vacant. READ MORE
