UNT College of Visual Arts and Design Recognized by Critic
Mark Lamster, Dallas Morning News

Feature
News

Published
November, 2023

Tags
UNT College of Visual Arts and Design, Materials, The Arts

The College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas received a new addition in 2019 designed by Machado Silvetti, which was recently commended by architecture critic and writer Mark Lamster, in his latest piece in the Dallas Morning News.

Experimenting with Materials

View of the breezeway and main stair entrance of the Eastern addition, from the courtyard.

Lamster highlights many of the building’s unique features, including the main staircase on the first level, pointing attention to the grandness of the stair’s volume and materiality choices, combining a massive brick stair and a cast-in-place concrete run of stairs off the landing to reach the second floor. The building also features a dark steel stair to add to the material palette.

“[Machado Silvetti’s] inventiveness is dramatically demonstrated at its recent expansion of the University of North Texas’ College of Visual Art & Design in Denton. The project is a virtual masterclass in the use of materials...”

Photo of the southern façade of the CVAD building with the existing building furthest to the left.

A Teaching Tool in Itself

View from interior courtyard space

The project involves the renovation and expansion of the original mid-century brutalist art building, creating a generous new courtyard at its center which is accessible via three pathways carved into each of the three sides of the addition. Lamster calls attention to how the addition in itself a teaching tool for architecture and design students to notice these kinds of gestures and moves the building makes. Lamster continues, “The project is an exercise in teachable moments, beginning with how it negotiates its relationship with the school’s original art building… The changes effectively turn what was a rather imposing legacy building into an inviting work of urban design.”

Lamster also points out how the new addition meets the old building in a respectful but cohesive way, bridging the two with a transparent glass bridge over a pedestrian walkway.

“Machado Silvetti has given UNT a unique pedagogical tool, a building that is very much a classroom unto itself.”

Read the full review here:

“At UNT, Brutalist Architecture Remade with a Soft Touch,”
Mark Lamster, Dallas Times
[https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/architecture/2023/11/01/at-unt-brutalist-architecture-remade-with-a-soft-touch/]

View of old building meeting new addition with a connecting glass bridge

Works on paper study and seminar room, with generous views out to the corner of Mulberry and Welch, that makes use of the Northen exposure

Students studying on second floor seating area overlooking courtyard

Printmaking studio

Related Content

  • In establishing the motto “One College One Building,” the renovation and new construction of the College of Visual Arts and Design on the University of North Texas’ campus prioritized unification of collegiate programs through detailed structural organization. Learn more about the project and it’s scope here.

  • The original Arts Building, designed by the Dallas firm, Clutts and Parker, was built in 1970 as a purpose-built home for the Department of Art. A major goal of the CVAD project was to bring the majority of critical programs back under one roof and reestablish the CVAD building as a clearly identifiable home for the College of Visual Arts and Design. Read more about the design process for the College of Visual Arts & Design here.

  • In November, Rodolfo Machado will be featured in the inaugural event of the new Rhode Island School of Design lecture series, the Rodolfo Machado Fund, founded in his honor. The event will include a conversation with Rodolfo and an archival exhibition of selected work from Rodolfo's studios and seminars during his tenure at RISD as faculty member and Chair of the Department of Architecture (1978-86). Read more about it here.

  • Project updates, upcoming events, construction features, & site visits — Continue exploring news articles and stories here.