McGee Art Pavilion School of Art and Design New York State College of Ceramics

The 19,000 SF addition to the School of Art and Design at the New York State College of Ceramics in Alfred, New York is designed as a large ceramic vessel for holding art and light. It is set on a plaza between two existing campus buildings on the main pedestrian campus thoroughfare. Its ceramic façade, made of un-glazed terra cotta tubes, is a solar and rain screen. The unglazed terra cotta tubes that make up the screen are expressive of ceramic art objects being created inside and the heritage of western New York which has been innovative in ceramic and glass technology since the nineteenth century. The art pavilion houses a large flexible student exhibition space and mezzanine, an immersive black box, expanded media and ceramic studios. The expansion is designed to achieve a USGBC LEED Silver certification through control of day lighting in the galleries, TPO roofing, low consumption water fixtures and high efficiency heating ventilation and air conditioning systems – including radiant heating in the exposed concrete floors of the studios and exhibition space.