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Arts Center Unveils Design for New Facility
New Board of Trustees Members Announced
Arts Center Executive Director Evelyn Craft and Board Chairman Richard O. Jacobs welcomed a slate of new trustees to the Board and introduced Albert Alfonso, president of Alfonso Architects, Inc. to the packed audience at the most recent Arts Center Annual Meeting.
Arts Center members, local business owners, and artists were presented a Conceptual Schematic Design presentation by Albert Alfonso, Jr., architect for the new $30 million Arts Center facility, gallery space, the Dale Chihuly Collection at the Arts Center, and state-of-the-art glass-blowing Hot Shop.
About the Building
Harkening back to the Bauhaus school and landmark buildings created by Walter Gropius, Alfonso Architects' design incorporates philosophical elements of both the Arts Center and Bauhaus missions to unify a community through artistic expression.
Drawing on the historic aspects of the former Landmark Union Trust Bank, built in Classic Revival style in 1925, the plans include incorporating the now-vacant building into the new plans, with the most prominent feature being a glass-enclosed access point to the roof garden, which connects to the Hot Shot and the Dale Chihuly Collection at the Arts Center building.
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Other features include:
- State of the art studio spaces for hand-on instruction in painting, drawing, ceramics, photography, digital imaging, sculpture, jewelry/small metals, glass -- cold working and hot glass, as well as a number of other media.
- Dramatic entry on Central Avenue with monumental sculpture. Entry forecourt allows for connectivity and interaction of the Arts Center with street activity and pedestrian and retail traffic.
- Lofty two-story lobby runs through the building to allow for entrance into the project from Central Avenue or the future parking garage.
- Cantilevered glass walkway through the Hot Shop along Martin Luther King Blvd. etched with process paintings.
- Indoor glass promenade that leads visitors from the upper floor galleries to the exterior rooftop sculpture garden.
- Stadium seating for 100 in the Hot Shop, as well as a catwalk circling above the Hot Shop floor.
- A dramatic second story walkway with open viewing into galleries and studios below will connect the Hot Shop, the Arts Center exhibition space and the Chihuly Collection at the Arts Center.
- Glass pieces embedded in the iconic Hot Shop face on the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and 1st Ave. North.
- Completion date for the new building is expected to be July 2008.
About the Architects
Albert Alfonso, president of Alfonso Architects, Inc., is the principal behind the design of the new Arts Center facility. He is a second generation architect; his father was a renowned architect who fled his native Cuba after denying Fidel Castro's request to build a monument honoring the revolution.
Under Albert's leadership, Alfonso Architects, Inc. received the American Institute of Architects Firm of the Year 2003 award for the State of Florida. His projects have been recognized with more awards during the last ten years than any other firm in the state. Alfonso Architects' diverse body of work includes educational facilities, office buildings, ecclesiastical buildings, multi-family housing, custom homes, retail facilities, and renovations.
Recent notable projects include the $120 million design and construction of the new Airside C terminal at Tampa International Airport and the National Headquarters design and construction for television research film Nielsen Media in Oldsmar.
The Nielsen campus features an Alfonso-designed state-of-the-art Data and Communications Center, and received the highest honor for Design Excellence, State of Florida AIA 2004.
Brandon Hicks was named Project Architect and Tom Belcher will serve as Project Manager. Peter Karamitsanis of Lighthouse Advisors has just been appointed Owner Representative for the Arts Center new building project. With over 31 years experience in the design and construction field, he is uniquely qualified to oversee all construction, permitting and budgeting aspects of building our $30 million facility.
Recent projects include K-Force Headquarters, Tampa; Tampa Museum of Art; Children's Board of Hillsborough County; the Toronto Blue Jays Spring Training Facility, Dunedin; and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Skull Island.
For more information, please contact us or call us at 727.822.7872.
To view a related article from The St. Petersburg Times, click here.
To view a press release from St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, click here.
