As a part of the $99 million Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts Capital Project, renovations began on Seigfred Hall. Built in 1962, Seigfred Hall was the largest arts building in the country at the time of construction.
Because of the renovation, many classes within the School of Art and Design have had to move to the Research and Technology Center, located at 3 Richland Ave. The RTEC was built in 1984 as an engineering building and sat vacant for years before the school came in.
Ceramics and sculpture classes will still be held in Seigfred Hall this semester, but some graphic design classes were moved to Tupper Hall and almost everything else within the school has been moved to RTEC.
Cassidy Brauner Jarrahi, a professor of instruction and head of photography and integrated media in the School of Art and Design, said she has seen some frustration from students from the end of the fall semester coming into spring.
“I think students are frustrated just with the move and change,” Jarrahi said. “You're used to going to one place, especially when you're a senior, there's a sense of this is our space.”
Faculty and grad students began packing and moving out of Seigfred Hall around the middle of last semester. Finals had to be pushed up a week for students to allow staff to move across campus before winter break started.
Students and faculty of the School of Art and Design are not the only ones affected by the move out of Seigfred Hall; Black Sheep Improv used Mitchell Auditorium for their bi-weekly performances. Clare Hickey, a senior studying English and co-president of Black Sheep Improv, said the loss of space has been a hard adjustment for the group.
“The issue is there's not another space like it for students that you don't have to pay rent,” Hickey said. “It's the only stage that's really easily accessible.”
Hickey said as a senior, losing a place she has a deep connection to in her last semester has been challenging, but she is happy for future students who will use the space.
“We've been performing there since my freshman year and the back wall of the stage was crumbling,” Hickey said. “I'm glad the space is getting renovated.”
Many students share this sentiment of the condition of Seigfred Hall. Hannah Moulen, a third-year graduate student studying printmaking who helped with the move, said RTEC has a similar feel to Seigfred Hall.
“It's kind of comparable in my mind,” Hickey said. “They both kind of have a rough and tough atmosphere. The few things I've noticed over the last few years being there (in Seigfred), there's tons of rust, tons of plumbing issues, electrical issues, they've had the elevator closed a couple times.”
RTEC now has many of the spaces students came to expect out of Seigfred Hall, including a dark room, galleries and CNC machining rooms. Jarrahi said although the move has been hard for many students, there are also positives of moving into RTEC.
“I do think there's been some positive reactions to the new space because, with the move, we also had to build,” Jarrahi said. “I think our dark rooms are technically a slightly smaller use of space, but they're a better use of space, and so people have been really excited about that.”
According to the Capital Project timeline, Seigfred Hall is estimated to have renovations done in the spring of 2027, along with the completion of the Patton Center for Arts Education. Classes will be held in RTEC until then.
