KVA Work in Progress by Frano Violich

KVA WORK IN PROGRESS

• 3D Arts Center / Colorado College

• Innovation Center / Hamilton College

• Mullins Library / University of Arkansas

• Morris Library / University of Delaware

• Springfield Convention Center Carpark

3D Studio Arts Center

Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO

Occupancy June 2024

29,000 sf / $5.5 M / Renovation

KVA’s relationship with Colorado College has continued for over 7 years, working on a variety of design commissions, from ground-up building to renovations. In 2022, KVA was asked to perform a feasibility study for a 3D Studio Arts Center -studios, workshops, a gallery, and offices –which was displaced by a new Hockey Arena. The selected site was the hockey team’s old home, the former HonnenIce Arena, a cast in place concrete vaulted structure built in 1963 as an open arena and later enclosed in the 80’s.

Demolition began in 2022 with the building stripped down to its original concrete structure. Studios with 30’ high ceilings were introduced including a workshop space for wood, metal, and CNC milling –including a central dust collection systemfaculty offices, and an 8,000 sf gallery and offices for the Department of Creativity and Innovation. All new curtain wall glazing and MEP/FP building systems were added including an innovative natural ventilation air system for cooling, flushed at night to take advantage of the region’s cooler highaltitude climate.

1963, Open Area

2013, Enclosed Arena

Innovation Center

Hamilton College, Clinton, NY

Design (CD’s) / Occupancy 2026

40,000 sf / $40 M / New Construction

KVA was commissioned in 2023 by Hamilton College to design a new Innovation Center establishing a gateway to the northwest corner of the 1,350-acre Arboretum Campus. The intent for the program –computer science classrooms, labs, interdisciplinary teaching spaces, makerspaces, and motion capture studios –is to provide a research venue for liberal arts students to perform scholarly research through physical experimentation and innovation. The IC is directly connected to Burke Library, the College’s main library.

Hamilton College has a rich history of stone architecture mixing Federal, Greek Revival, Collegiate Gothic, and Modern styles. From the exterior, the IC draws from the vertical proportions of historic building, their use of craft, and applies this through contemporary means of construction that includes traditional and contemporary materials and techniques of design and construction.

The design includes 50 acres of new landscape, outdoor terraces, and geothermal wells to serve the IC and adjacent buildings. Building systems are fully electric to reflect Hamilton’s commitment to zero-carbon energy use.

Mullins Library

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR

Construction / Occupancy October 2024

75,000 sf / $40 M / Renovation

In 2022, KVA was awarded the commission to transform Mullins Library, the University of Arkansas’s central library, into a center for research and innovation that many of the University’s 25,000 students had little or no access to. At the same time, the Library’s Special Collections, sequestered in the Library’s basement, needed expansion and greater public visibility and access. Its archives of southern US literature, art, and architecture –including Fay Jones work –is recognized internationally.

A central hub called the ARK replaces book stacks with a maker space, a 180-degree digital visualization room, an AR/VR Studio, Audio and Recording Studios, and Podcast booths.

The design brings these two programs together by inserting 3 large lightwells connecting the main floor and the former basement, allowing for day-lighted public spaces. A conference center, event space, reading rooms, classrooms and offices, and, for the first time, an accessible entry from the Campus’ Main Quad -supported by a café and outdoor eating -complete the program.

Main Quad

Existing Entry

New Entry Under Construction

Morris Library Special Collections

University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Design / Occupancy Fall 2025

22,000 sf / $12 M / Renovation

KVA has extensive experience in the design of libraries with a special emphasis on Special Collections, The University of Delaware commissioned KVA to focus exclusively on its Special Collections and to make these more accessible and publicfacing. The collection includes printed materials and archival collections with an emphasis on the fine, decorative, and applied arts. It holds the works of such notable English, Irish, and American writers as Oscar Wilde, William Morris, Christina Rossetti, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Aubrey Beardsley.

KVA’s design places the Special Collections public programs --the entry, public gallery, reading room, and teaching space –front and center by integrating it with the monumental stairs and central atrium of the original 1963 design. A back-lighted glass façade provides a new identity for Morris Library that features the rich history of the region's writers and artists. Temperature and relative humidity meet American Alliance of Museums standards. The project is currently in Design Development with construction scheduled to start January 2025 and occupancy in August 2025.

Atrium & Monumental Stair

Reading Room Teaching Space LasnerArchives Exhibition Display

Convention Center

Carpark

MCCA, Springfield, MA

Construction / Occupancy Winter 2026

250,000 sf / $55 M / New Construction

KVA was commissioned by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) to design a new mixeduse development including ground floor retail, an outdoor event space, and a 1,000car garage, as part of a revitalization of downtown Springfield, MA. KVA led the programming effort with public agencies and private businesses.

The central emphasis placed on the project is to create a public space to support ongoing conventions, sports and cultural events, and local businesses. The design includes closing a street to vehicular traffic, establishing terraced bleacher seating overlooking a public plaza for cultural events, and food kiosks. Restaurants and shops occupy the ground floor of the garage with generous space for outdoor seating in the plaza and pedestrian street. Steps lead up to an elevated terrace overlooking the plaza and continue to the 5th floor where views can be captured of the City below.