Inside Iowa State
Inside ArchivesSubmit newsSend news for Inside to inside@iastate.edu, or call (515) 294-7065. See publication dates, deadlines. About InsideInside Iowa State, a newspaper for faculty and staff, is published by the Office of University Relations. |
Sept. 21, 2007 
The ISU Design West studio is a two-story (one is underground), 7,000-square-foot building. It features a 32-foot-tall atrium, cantilevered concrete stairs, and an interior space that integrates the original red quartzite exterior walls with contemporary wood floors and new white walls. The studio is illuminated by giant windows that flood the interior with daylight. Photo by Chadd Goosmann. Sioux City opens satellite studioby Heather Sauer, College of Design communications The College of Design and Sioux City Great Places Committee will host a grand opening celebration for the ISU Design West Studio at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, in Sioux City. The studio facility is at 10141/2 Fourth Street. The ISU Design West studio is a new satellite program of the college and expands regional educational opportunities in architecture, landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, graphic design and interior design. The program is a partnership of the college, ISU Extension and Sioux City, supported in part by an Iowa Great Places grant. "The studio is intended as a destination for people to learn, explore and interact on the topics of urban design, community development and quality of life in Sioux City and the surrounding area," said Design dean Mark Engelbrecht. Initial course offerings will involve upper-level students and faculty in projects that address real design issues and engage community members. For example, this summer a class of architecture graduate students created prototype bus-stop shelters of laser-cut steel for downtown Sioux City. This fall, a landscape architecture class is studying the effects of the pending Interstate 29 relocation and ways to re-establish connections from the Missouri River to downtown Sioux City. As the studio gears up, a regular schedule of semester-long courses will be available. Some classes based on campus may conduct short visits to work on projects in the community. In the future, some introductory design classes also may be offered at ISU Design West for students from other colleges and universities, with the potential for transfer credit to Iowa State programs. An urban extension program will focus on urban design, historic preservation, regional planning and applied research. Public seminars and workshops on a variety of topics also will be scheduled at the studio. How it came aboutIn 2005, then Gov. Tom Vilsack named Sioux City one of three pilot Iowa Great Places. In 2006, the city received a $530,000 grant toward development of a "design school" that could draw on key elements of the city's past, including the distinctive late 19th-century architecture still present throughout the downtown area. The renovated studio space is in an 1890s-era steam boiler plant in Sioux City's historic district. The district contains the best concentration of late 19th-century commercial buildings in the city, many notable for the Richardsonian Romanesque style of architecture popular at the time. The Siouxland Chamber Foundation owns the building and leases the studio space to the university. More information is online at www.design.iastate.edu/ISUDesignWest, or contact program coordinator Susan Fey, (515) 238-5128, susanfey@iastate.edu. |
Quote"The studio is intended as a destination for people to learn, explore and interact on the topics of urban design, community development and quality of life in Sioux City and the surrounding area."
Mark Engelbrecht, |
Ames, Iowa 50011, (515) 294-4111. Published by: University Relations, online@iastate.edu.
Copyright © 1995-2007, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.