Curving glass walls enclose the Winter Visual Arts Building, which Steven Holl Architects has completed in the arboretum of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The sculptural three-storey arts centre, first revealed by Steven Holl Architects in 2016, forms part of the US college's new Arts Quad and contains studios, classrooms, and offices.
Winter Visual Arts Building is distinguished by its asymmetric facade
Winter Visual Arts Building is distinguished by its translucent, undulating upper storeys, intended to resemble a lightweight pavilion nestled amongst the campus' 200-year-old trees.
This distinctive geometry was developed by Steven Holl Architects in response to the roots and driplines of these trees, which are one of the oldest elements of the campus. It is shaped around existing trees on the site
"Winter Visual Arts Building is the center of creative life on campus," said the New York studio. "The universal language of art enabled by the building's spaces brings together students from diverse cultures to collaborate on arts projects."
"The large diameter trees, the oldest elements of the Franklin & Marshall's 52-acre arboretum campus, were the conceptual generator of the building's geometry," it continued.
"As a lightweight building, its main floor is lifted into the trees on a porous ground level open to the campus."
A nearby pool is designed to reflect the building
Winter Visual Arts Building's fo...