Designed by Bruner/Cott & Associates, The Lunder Arts Center at Lesley University?s College of Art and Design is a combined work, juxtaposing nineteenth and twenty-first-century buildings to form a contemporary nexus for the arts. For Lesley University?s community of learners, a value in the arts is important across all disciplines and lives and is at the core of the university?s educational mission.

The Center links a historic c.1845 church with a new terra-cotta structure, creating a dialogue between nineteenth- and twenty-first-century architecture. Exterior materials come from a single palette that responds to its context: glass, terra-cotta, painted clapboard, concrete, steel, copper, and granite.
Photography: Robert Benson
The North Prospect Congregational Church, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was moved (for the second time in its history) to a more prominent position on the site and fitted with a reconstructed granite based on historical records. The church?s exterior has been restored to its original appearance, and the interior has been reworked and converted to house the school?s art library and design studios. The ground floor is vibrant and transparent and positions the gallery as a participant of the streetscape. An entry plaza adjoins the widened sidewalk. Large glazed areas in the studio wing reveal the creative energy inside. Photography: Robert Benson
Clad in ivory terra-cotta, the studio wing houses the studio arts, with large n...