Athens, Ga. – Several of the programs and services in the University of Georgia College of Environment and Design will be housed in a new site located at 285 South Jackson Street starting Aug. 1.
The mid-century, former visual arts building is a sustainably rehabilitated facility for CED’s administrative office, Owens Library, Circle Gallery and the bachelor of landscape architecture program. The adjacent Bishop House will serve as CED’s Office of External Affairs, which will include development, public relations and alumni relations.
The college worked with the UGA Office of Sustainability on the building’s sustainable rehabilitations, which included the installation of solar panels on its roof. The panels were purchased through MAGE SOLAR USA, a Dublin-based complete system provider and producer of U.S.-assembled and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-compliant solar photovoltaic-modules. Dubbed by UGA the Solar Demonstration Project, it’s estimated the panels will provide almost 30,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year-approximately enough energy to power 90 fluorescent T8 lights for 10 hours a day or 189 laptops for eight hours a day for an entire year.
CED graduate programs will remain in their current locations in Denmark Hall and the Tanner Building. The Center for Community Design and Preservation will continue working in the Broad Street Studios. The Founders Memorial Garden Complex will remain under the stewardship of CED and will serve as offices for faculty emeriti and the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program.
A grand opening of the new Circle Gallery will be held Sept. 20 from 4:30-6 p.m. and will feature the opening of the exhibit Altamaha: The Environmental History of a Great American River, featuring photographs by James Holland and a book by CED’s Dorinda Dallmeyer. On Sept. 21 at 10 a.m., a building dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony will be held, with UGA President Michael F. Adams in attendance. The remainder of the day will serve as an open house for alumni, the university community and the public.
During the academic year, a campaign will be initiated to raise funds for an additional wing to the new building. The purpose for the addition is to house all of CED’s academic programs in the new location. Said Daniel J. Nadenicek, dean of the college, “Having all programs in one house will foster cross-disciplinary work as well as a sense of community, collaboration and ingenuity. It will make our CED the most outstanding example of a College of Environment and Design in the state of Georgia and potentially in the nation.”
Denmark Hall will be repurposed for CED’s Cultural Landscape Laboratory and other research and design labs for various classes. The Founders Memorial Garden Complex also will be retained and managed by the college in perpetuity for historic preservation, alumni events and educational purposes.
For the CED’s new mailing addresses, phone numbers and more information, see http://www.ced.uga.edu/.
The College of Environment and Design is home to one of the oldest and largest schools of landscape architecture in the U.S. and offers degrees in landscape architecture, historic preservation and environmental planning and design, as well as a certificate in environmental ethics.
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