Plans Continue for New Academic Building Posted on April 10th, 2008 by

Communication Studies professors Leila Brammer and Kris Kracht look over architectural plans at a design workshop on April 10.

Communication Studies professors Leila Brammer and Kris Kracht look over architectural plans at a design workshop on April 10.

In early March, Gustavus Adolphus College announced that BWBR Architects of St. Paul had been hired to design a new academic building for the college that will house the departments of Communication Studies, Economics and Management, History, Psychology, and Sociology and Anthropology.

This week the firm spent three days on campus holding a design workshop to develop a conceptual design for the new building. Students, staff, and faculty were invited to several review sessions to give their input on specific concepts and ideas they would like to see implemented in the new building.

The new building will be built in the area west of Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library on the land currently occupied by the old football stadium. Early goals for the building include making it compatible with the college’s focus on engaged learning and making it an environmentally friendly building.

The firm has previously worked with the college on the design and construction of F.W. Olin Hall (1991) and the renovation and addition to the Alfred Nobel Hall of Science (2000).

BWBR dates back to a solo architectural practice established in 1922 in St. Paul by Bill Ingemann. By the late 1950s, the firm included Milton Bergstedt, Chuck Wahlberg, Lloyd Bergquist, and Fritz Rohkohl — whose names identified the practice until it was simplified to BWBR Architects in the late ’70s.

With a staff of more than 140, BWBR has been named a “Great Place to Work” by The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, and has ranked in the top five on The Business Journal’s annual “Top 25 List of Architectural Firms” for the last several years. The firm approaches $300 million in construction annually, works actively in a number of markets, including health care, detention and justice, industrial, education, corporate office, recreation, and religious facilities. Educational facilities have been a focus since the firm’s earliest days, today accounting for five to 10 percent of its workload.

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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510

 

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