Visual Arts renderings published

The Visual Arts project page now has renderings available.

Now the public can see what so distressed some members of the College-formed committee of town advisors.

The building seems inoffensive. The entrances are glassy but the building is dominated by stone surfaces and reads as a solid mass from which openings have been punched, not as a Modernist affront to solidity and gravity. A blogger notes that the Norwegian slate ought to work well in Hanover’s climate. The building is not especially tall. It preserves what’s left of College Street and uses the former street to create a view of the Hood.

A Valley News editorial describes the building as “aggressively urban,” but it seems no more aggressive than Hanover’s other urban buildings, and far less hostile to Hanover than Spaulding Auditorium is. The Center’s entrance on Lebanon Street shows what Spaulding should have done. Perhaps this example will encourage Dartmouth to build an addition to Spaulding’s south and west facades containing offices, shops, and a true public entrance for the auditorium that leads to a full-sized theater lobby.

Visual Arts entrance

Detail of Lebanon Street entrance in south facade

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