Everything old is new again

Aside from attending the RISD alumni sale I got to walk around campus a bit and check out old stomping grounds, which was fun. There was much that was the same, but just as much has changed in six short years.

The RISD "beach," a grassy knoll where students lay around when the weather is nice, was just the same, although I could swear those trees in the back are taller.

Dexter House on Benefit Street, where I lived for three of my four years at RISD hadn't changed a bit.

The Chace Center being built on South Main Street across from the Design Center, is one very big change. Scheduled to open in September 2008, The Chace Center will be an extension of the RISD Museum, as well as a student center, exhibition space, and house freshman foundation studios. It will also be the home of a new site specific installation by RISD alum  Dale Chihuly, which I can't wait to go back to see.

I was most impressed by the new Fleet Library downtown. When I graduated in 2002, FleetBoston Financial Corp. had just donated the historic banking building that would become the new library. The library had been in a charming old building on Benefit Street with wood floors that creaked with every step you took...it was nice, but very small, and not really what I considered an intensive study space. The new library is in a word— breathtaking. I could have spent hours there, when I only had a few minutes. It is an amazing combination of modern, durable, sustainable design, mixed with the ornate features of a 1917 banking hall. (I forgot my camera in the car when I went in, but the above photo you'll find with others in a brochure on the new library that can be downloaded right here.)

My one regret in going to RISD was that I was not a little older and wiser when I went. You take so many things for granted when you are 18...but I am very happy to be able to go back and visit the RISD community now. At 28 I have a profound appreciation for it as an institution and can't wait to see how it continues to transform.

Comments

[Di]

It sounds like a great weekend and that library does look stunning! How I would love to spend time in somewhere so calming!

It's funny, it's the second time in 2 days I have heard of RISD and I hadn't heard of it before!

I would love to go visit the Chihuly exhibit when finished - I saw his glasswork in the V&A Museum entrance hall in London - amazing!

[julia]

good to see the ole' stomping grounds. I can't tell you how many hours I spend on that risd "beach". the new library is insane. i couldn't believe it. it made me wish i was a student all over again.

[Design for Mankind]

FANTASTIC POST! :)

[rebecca]

Chihuly is seriously overrated. But Seattle is saturated with him.

On a nicer note, I love cake&pie. Thanks for the goodness.

[Kathleen]

I think Chihuly is really amazing. His installation at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens two years ago was completely breathtaking. I guess it can get a bit much if you see it everyday...to each their own:)
Thanks for reading!

[LeAnne]

what school is this again?
http://www.hairsmystory.com