From the beginning, the Chace Center was created for people — to be a crossroads where students, faculty, staff, alumni and museum visitors from the general public all come together. With its unpretentious design, it melds student and museum exhibition galleries, an auditorium and other public venues with studios, classrooms and collection conservation areas, creating a welcoming center where art is made, studied and enjoyed.
The Chace Center — named by Jane Chace Carroll, Malcolm “Kim” Chace
and Eliot Chace Nolen in honor of their parents, the late Malcolm and Beatrice “Happy” Oenslager
Chace — was one of several key projects realized through RISD’s
$104-million Future by Design campaign, the largest comprehensive fundraising
effort ever undertaken here. But the stunning facility is much more than a
fundraising success; it is an effective design solution for a complex site
and an important expression of the growing cultural vitality of the city. It
is also the bold outcome of a vision shared by RISD’s Board of Trustees;
former President Roger Mandle, along with provosts and museum directors from
1998 to the present; the Chace family and other key donors to this project;
and its architect José Rafael Moneo.
Since the beginning of his involvement in 2001, Moneo has made eloquent use
of the language of architecture to unite disparate activities and architectural
styles into a coherent whole. His design of this 43,000-sf LEED-certified structure
resolves issues of circulation, cross-pollination and public access, not to
mention optimization of space and light. And it does so while offering picture-perfect
views and reinforcing RISD’s core values of environmental sensitivity,
academic excellence, community engagement and arts advocacy.
Synthesizing the creativity and exploration at the heart of the studio experience,
the Chace Center offers both a literal and a figurative front door to RISD
and all it has to offer.
