DURHAM, NC — Skanska, a global construction and development firm, has completed the construction of Radford University's Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity (Artis Center). The Artis Center serves as the new home to the university’s College of Visual and Performing Arts and provides unique learning and collaboration spaces for students in the Waldron College of Health and Human Services and the College of Nursing. The new 178,000-square-foot facility is the largest capital construction project in Radford’s history and the largest academic building on the campus.
"The completion of the Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity represents a pivotal shift in educational infrastructure on the campus and showcases the future of interdisciplinary learning and research," said Mark Balling, General Manager and Executive Vice President overseeing Skanska’s operations in North Carolina and Virginia. "We're proud to have partnered with Radford University to bring this visionary project to life."
The Artis Center’s exterior facade fuses the historic elements of the original campus buildings with modern metal and glass features, complementing recently constructed facilities along the campus’ Main Street. Designed to foster interdisciplinary study and collaboration between students, faculty, and staff in various programs, the four-story Artis Center houses a 500-seat proscenium theatre, a 200-seat studio theatre, a performance hub with learning stairs, and a courtyard with an amphitheater. Additionally, the facility has over 60 distinct learning spaces including:
- Fashion and interior design labs
- Health sciences clinical labs
- Painting and drawing studios
- Music and dance studios
- Maker and printer spaces
- Virtual and augmented reality labs
- Modern classrooms and collaboration rooms
- Costume shop, theater design lab, and scene shop
Skanska previously constructed the Radford fitness and wellness center. The facility’s signature element is a sloped running track on the mezzanine levels that offers a 360-degree view of the campus and is mirrored on the building’s exterior through a glass curtain wall system and roofline that are sloped to match the incline of the track.
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Operating from a regional headquarters in Durham, North Carolina, Skanska currently has more than $1.4 billion worth of projects in progress between North Carolina and Virginia.
