BTGA and Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects, Inc. were retained by URI to renovate and expand its Fine Arts Center on the main Kingston Campus. In order to bring the building up to current educational and environmental standards and ensure its continued viability as a university facility, the design team recommended major interventions, including installing all new HVAC systems, improving site drainage systems, replacing roof structures, encapsulating and insulating the exterior concrete skin, and relocating mechanical equipment outside.

In order to provide the best value to the client and the best use of the budget available, KMW/BTGA developed a scheme that kept important pieces of the existing building while inserting a new central building section to drastically improve the Center’s functionality. The approved concept for the Fine Arts Center combines a new three-story central bar-building extending east/west with long elevations oriented north/south with the renovation of the existing Theater and the Music Concert and Recital Halls to remain. A combination of both the new and old building elements forms a new campus open space at the southwest corner of the site.