Home Improvement
Design class takes on Bridgeway beautification as a course project.
With assistance from budding planners in a UT Austin design class, DIIA’s venerable Bridgeway Building has been revitalized, with power-washed limestone, reorganized public spaces, clear signage, new paint, and inviting landscaping.
In fall 2007, the ad hoc Bridgeway beautification committee contacted David Shields, assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History, who agreed to take on developing a Bridgeway way-finding plan for his spring 2008 design class. The project was a good fit for the department’s design program, which encourages students to use design as a means to understand and reflect cultures. After some coaching from Joel Heikes about gathering qualitative data, Shields’ students interviewed staff and clients and observed how space was being used, with four groups making proposal presentations by the end of the semester.
Shields is co-founder of the design studio Viewers Like You. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Cooper Hewitt Museum and Museum of Modern Art. Shields came to UT Austin after holding positions at Rutgers University, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pratt Institute, and NYC Technical College in Brooklyn.
The fruits of his students’ work are evident today in a refreshed building with more efficient work spaces, improved signage, a staff directory, and a redesigned reception area for student testing. DIIA staff also landscaped the exterior with native plants.
The Bridgeway, as it is still known, is on Wichita Street between Dean Keeton and 27th. It is the lone structure remaining along that street from a collection of buildings from the mid-20th century that once included apartments and sorority houses. Built in 1949, Bridgeway was a men’s apartment house included on the dean of students’ list of approved housing. The university acquired the building in 1968 during a land acquisition program in response to significant growth. After minor renovations, H. Paul Kelley established the Measurement and Evaluation Center in the space, with the mission to promote equity in assessment and support research in collegiate testing.
The design work provided by Shields’ students complements a larger, unrelated initiative by the university to implement a comprehensive campus preservation plan. In summer 2007, UT Austin received a grant of $175,000 from the Getty Foundation to support planning to preserve the historic core of the campus.