Arkansas State University’s Windgate Hall of Art and Innovation will foster collaboration across academic disciplines

Arkansas State University held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Windgate Hall of Art and Innovation. It was a wonderful day of celebrating this one of a kind center where the Department of Art + Design and the College of Engineering and Computer Science will come together in a space that supports creativity and learning activities for students. The WER Architects team has loved working with Arkansas State University leadership and Goody Clancy on the design of this project.

Thank you to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette on the great article highlighting the project.

Arkansas State University’s Windgate Hall of Art and Innovation will foster collaboration across academic disciplines

September 19, 2024 at 6:38 p.m.
by Ryan Anderson
JONESBORO -- The new Windgate Hall of Art and Innovation will expose students to a wide range of academic disciplines, and that interdisciplinary study will adroitly prepare them to be effective leaders in their careers and lives, according to Calvin White Jr., provost of Arkansas State University.

"These days, real-world problems" are rarely -- if ever -- solved by one individual working solitary, but rather through collaboration with peers evaluating issues "holistically," added White, who is also A-State's executive vice chancellor. "When we push ourselves to learn something new, we become more well-rounded individuals," which is paramount not only for learning, but "essential for this world."

Indeed, when Chancellor Todd Shields was an assistant professor, he noticed his work output improved exponentially after he began collaborating with professors of other disciplines because those conversations cultivated creativity, and that model holds true for students and faculty, he said. The new Windgate Hall "will infuse the arts into a wide range of academic disciplines."

The new building -- for which the university conducted an official groundbreaking Thursday -- will be just west of the Windgate Center for Three-Dimensional Arts, which was completed in 2021, according to the university. The 38,887-square-foot edifice, scheduled to open in 2026, will host spaces for the Department of Art + Design and the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and it's funded by a $25 million gift from the Windgate Foundation -- which designates $20 million for construction and $5 million for building maintenance -- as well as $3.2 million in institutional reserves.

The building will place creative people together to devise solutions that ultimately "make the world a better -- and more beautiful -- place," said Kip Ellis, a Jonesboro native who leads the Science & Technology practice of Boston architecture firm Goody Clancy. The design prizes diversity, connectivity, resilience and engagement.

It will be "open and airy, (but) unpretentious," and those in it "will feel involved in a creative factory," Ellis said. Students and faculty will be able to showcase ongoing projects "in ways not possible right now," with plenty of spaces both for individual and group work.

Ellis was inspired in his design by the work of "highly revered Arkansas modernist Elmer Axtell Stuck," who designed several buildings on the A-State campus, as well as the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library, Craighead County Courthouse and the Medical Arts Building in Hot Springs, he said. Stuck was "one of the reasons I became an architect" and he hopes Windgate Hall can serve as a launching pad for students to enter their own various dream careers as it "connects past and future."

Though art, design, engineering and computer design "may appear unrelated on the surface," they all share "common threads of creativity and problem solving," said Jake Qualls, computer science department chair. Combining them in one space "encourages unique solutions not possible in a single discipline."

"Thinking big in small spaces is nearly impossible," but Windgate Hall will provide "room to grow," not only with programs and academic offerings, but "in what can be made," said Kat Baker, chair of the Art + Design department. For example, "we'll be able to bring new painting techniques into the classroom," as well as expand the photography program by incorporating video art.

Having all these departments in the same space -- rather than "segregation" -- creates connections among students and staff, who can "create together," Baker said. Among the projects already in discussion is for students to make, program and design pinball machines, which will be displayed for view and play inside the building.

The Windgate Foundation is the university's largest single benefactor in its 115-year history, with endowments totaling more than $40 million, and Shields is "constantly surprised and inspired by the powerful impact of Windgate" not only on A-State's campus or in the state, but across the United States, he said. Windgate consistently demonstrates "deeply generous support of -- and belief in -- the power of art."

Several of senior Abby Armstrong's favorite classes have been in the Windgate Center for Three-Dimensional Arts, a space that has provided chances for new projects and techniques not possible previously, said the art history major. Armstrong and a few classmates were so inspired by their experiences in the building they launched the first-ever Clay Club on campus.

Armstrong is sure that combining disciplines in the new Windgate Hall will only lead to more innovative and outstanding work by students and staff, she added. "My college experience would never have been the same without Windgate's support of the arts on this campus."