PSW is happy to announce that the UALR Student Services Center recently received a Bronze Award in the Education Category from the Brick Industry Association’s annual Brick in Architecture award competition. Since 1989, the Brick Industry Association has held the Brick in Architecture awards to honor architectural and design firms from around the country. Any work of architecture in which clay brick products comprise the majority of the exterior or paving material is eligible.
The UALR Student Services Center is a modern, four-story academic center that consolidates campus administration and enrollment services into a single facility, and is intentionally sited to reinforce a student/pedestrian corridor connecting student housing with core academic facilities. The building supplants a previous surface parking lot, and restores the rigorous urban fabric that is a legacy of this metropolitan campus. This central location enables the building to leverage its location to maximize visibility and convenience for both students and visitors. The building form and materials are manipulated on the south facade to respond to the prominence of the adjacent student pedestrian axis. Interior public circulation is consolidated within a four-story atrium to the south, which parallels interior movement and activity with that along the exterior pedestrian corridor. Cladding this form in a transparent glass curtain wall system of varying opacity emphasizes openness and transparency, and creates a visual connection between students inside and out. Sustainable features have been rigorously integrated into the building design.