UK receives $5M donation to renovate ‘terribly stressed building.’ Here’s the plan
The University of Kentucky has received a donation of more than $5 million to go toward renovating the home of the College of Design, soon to be housed in the Reynolds Building.
Gray, Inc., a construction and engineering company owned by the Gray family in Lexington, is donating $5.25 million for renovations of the historic Reynolds Building. The building, more than a century old, will be renamed the Gray Design Building and will become home to the five programs within the College of Design. Other programs, like the landscape architecture and biomedical engineering programs, also will be able to use the space.
UK President Eli Capilouto said the new building will be “a stunning entry point to UK,” and “a marriage of form and function that will enhance what we do academically, in service to our state and as a symbol of the inextricable links between Lexington and the university.”
“This gift will give us the opportunity to transform a historic but terribly stressed building into the Gray Design Building — home of UK’s College of Design,” Capilouto said. “It sits at a critical nexus between campus and community.”
UK acquired the building and moved the university’s art department there in the 1960s. In need of major renovations, the building was vacated about a decade ago, as UK’s School of Art and Visual Studies moved into a nearby renovated building.
UK rolled out plans for updating the building last year, designed by architecture practice Studio Gang, including outdoor spaces, a cafe and lecture halls with student-designed furniture.
College of Design Dean Mitzi Vernon said she is excited to see the building come together after years of planning, and is pleased to see a historic building be repurposed in a sustainable way, aligning with UK and the college’s sustainability goals.
The design of the building, as a former tobacco warehouse, allows for plenty of open space, Vernon said. It will also allow room for the college to grow, Vernon said, with the goal of being able to house 750 students in the new building.
“It gives us this opportunity to have open studios and also to create a maker suite that is forefront to the building,” Vernon said. “So it’s the first thing you see as you approach the building on the entrance side off of Scott Street.”
It will also be the first time the college has housed all of its programs in one building, allowing for more collaboration between programs and faculty, a “win-win for everybody across campus,” Vernon said.
“It’s going to be significant for research opportunities, running into people and being able to share contemporary ideas,” Vernon said.
The project is scheduled to break ground later this year, according to UK.
“As a family and on behalf of our team members, it’s the privilege of a lifetime to make this investment in UK’s College of Design, which includes the School of Architecture where we’ve had a special kinship for almost 50 years,” said Jim Gray, secretary of Kentucky’s Transportation Cabinet and former Lexington mayor.
“We’re honored to play a role in expanding UK’s educational influence across the state and in helping to attract the best students, faculty and staff,” Franklin Gray, a graduate of the college, said.
The project is the first on UK’s campus to use funds from the asset preservation fund, which was established during the most recent legislative session, according to UK. The asset preservation pool is made up of more than $154 million of state bonds, which will be matched in part by UK, to restore historic facilities on campus.