SCAD Atlanta Campus Expansion
Year: 2024 Design & Honor Awards | Category: Built Project over 5,000 SF
The SCAD Atlanta Campus Expansion balances student-focused program with arts amenities fronting the Midtown Arts Corridor. Responding to the scale of the urban context, refined rectilinear grey forms rise out of a single city block housing 1600 students connected by expansive glass at lounges, dining, fitness, and workshops – showcasing gallery-like interiors adorned with alumni artwork. The public is welcomed to the cinema and black box theaters, campus store and event space–articulated in form with contrasting white metal volumes. The strategic placement of the buildings creates a variety of exterior gathering spaces adding to the holistic campus transformation.
Design Challenge
As a mixed-use development, one of the conceptual challenges was to incorporate the large, diverse program on a single city block while balancing the neighborhood’s district guidelines and limited site access.
The largest shared student and community program piece is a 650+ seat cinema theater. The goal was for this element to be a statement piece architecturally and directly accessible by the public without passing through secured student residential areas. With visibility and access only on Spring Street the design team was limited to its location. However, Midtown Alliance design guidelines required a large percentage of ground floor program along Spring Street to be active uses with transparency between the building and the pedestrian experience.
The design team’s solution was to elevate the theater volume to the third floor. This allowed street views into the campus store, digital lab and public parking garage entry. The placement also provided the opportunity to orchestrate an engaging vertical preconvene experience. The entrance lobby becomes a portal for students to enter the courtyard to access the residential towers, dining hall, and academic entrances – or ascend with the community to experience the second-floor concessions lounge and black box theater, the third-floor cinema theater house level, and the mezzanine level lounge. All spaces are connected by an elevator core clad in oak tambour and an open stair with gold railings and statement light fixtures dramatically filling the volume.
Project Information
Firm(s)
Mackey Mitchell Architects (Design Architect)
Lamar Johnson Collaborative (Architect of Record)
Owner
Savannah College of Art and Design
Project Location
Atlanta, Georgia
Completion Date
9/1/2023
Architects and Designers
Mackey Mitchell
Gwynn Zivic AIA
Steve Emer AIA
Jennifer Plocher Wilkins AIA
Andrew Gilles AIA
Christina Brown AIA
Nick Fratta
Caitlin Seim AIA
Kyle Wagner AIA
Lamar Johnson
Kapil Khanna AIA
Amy Luchun AIA
Christopher Kupcho Assoc. AIA
Timothy Sandweg AIA
Marissa Swanson Assoc. AIA
Terry McCoy AIA
Adam Bachtel ASLA
Chris Sanders ASLA
SCAD
Martin Smith
G. Anthony Hensley AIA
Structural Engineer
Uzun + Case, LLC
Civil Engineer
Eberly & Associates, Inc.
Interior Design/FF&E
SCAD Design Group
Mechanical/Plumbing
Rosser International, Jordan & Skala Engineers
Electrical Engineer
Power Design, Inc.
Fire Protection Engineer
Palmetto Automatic Sprinkler
General Contractor
Clayco, Inc.
Landscape Design
Lamar Johnson Collaborative
Lighting
Power Design, Inc.
Photographer
Photograph Courtesy of SCAD
