It’s time to break some ground!
There’s a new building coming to Howard University and they’ve chosen the largest Black architecture firm to design it, HBCU Connect reports.
The university announced last year that they would be renaming its College of Fine Arts after the late Chadwick Boseman, who graduated from Howard University in 2000. They even created a $5.4 million scholarship in honor of the great actor and alum! Now they’re announcing KGD Architecture and the nation’s largest Black-owned architecture firm, Moody Nolan, have been chosen as design partners for the university’s brand new academic building, the Center for Fine Arts and Communications. The building is where you will also find the Cathy Hughes School of Communications and Howard University’s television and radio stations, WHUR/WHUT. Both KGD and Moody Nolan are glad to be a part of creating this groundbreaking building on the illustrious campus.
Co-president at KGD Manoj Dalaya said, “We are honored to serve the community of Howard University with such a distinguished history and place in our academic culture. The KGD and Moody Nolan teams are excited to work with a world-leading institution to tell its story, to shape its physical context, and connect with the young scholars and academic community with a next-generation Center for Fine Arts and Communications.”
For 40 years, Moody Nolan has been committed to developing HBCU campuses; they’ve completed 63 projects across 33 HBCUs, and they plan to remain focused on hiring individuals who come from HBCUs so they can then give back to their schools. Moody Nolan partner and the CAC project’s Design Executive Deandre Mitchell says this new building will “catalyze a new era of innovation and creative expression for future Bison.”
The anticipation for this new building is surely rising; Mitchell, who is also a Howard alum on the team, stated, “I am humbled by the opportunity to give back to a place that has given me so much. Here at Howard, I found myself, met my life partner and learned my craft, which I now have the privilege of applying “With Excellence in Truth and Service” to my alma mater. I’ve come full circle and can now truly say, ‘I’m HOME.’”
You’ll be able to find this building behind Childers Hall on the northern end of the campus. Phase one of the project is expected to be done by spring 2025 in order to begin allowing students in for the fall 2025 semester. This building along with a new hospital and medical office building, health sciences complex and STEM center, athletics annex, and a housing community within walking distance of the campus are all a part of the schools 2020 Central Campus Master Plan, which is “focused on the long-term transformation of the central campus experience for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and surrounding communities.”
Howard University president Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA shared a few words on this collaboration stating, “For the first time since 1984, Howard is constructing new academic buildings. These projects represent the university’s evolving and innovative academic offerings. The approach to housing more than one discipline under one roof is to encourage greater breadth and depth of exposures and to create inroads to strengthen the intersections between various fields of study.”
We can’t wait to see more excellence!
Photo: Derek E. Morton/ The Dig