SAAHP Facilities are located in Bristol, Rhode Island and Florence, Italy.
The Bristol facilities include an award-winning 45,000 square foot building that opened in 1987, which has been expanded between 2003-2005 in two phases of a planned three-phase expansion by an additional 20,000 square feet.
The architects of the original building, Kite-Palmer Associates, Providence, R.I., were selected to design the building through a national competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. William Kite Architects were again selected to design the expansion in 2003.
In Florence, the Roger Williams University Study Abroad facilities include a dedicated Architecture Design Studio for 26 students at the Palazzo Alamanni, with classroom and design review space at the Palazzo Rucellai, a landmark of the Renaissance.
Facilities in Bristol include:
- Design Studios
- Review and Seminar Rooms
- Design Computing Laboratory
- Architecture Library
- Photography Studio and Darkroom
- Woodworking Studio/Model Shop
- Exhibition Gallery
The phased expansion that has been completed has added the following features:
- Graduate Architecture Design Studios
- A Well-Equipped Lecture Theater Including
- High Quality Digital Projection
- Audio and Teleconferencing Equipment
- Seminar Rooms and Review Space
- An 18-station Digital Media Lab
- Building Materials and Conservation Lab
- Digital Manufacturing Lab Including a CNC
- Milling Machine
- Drawing Studio
- Faculty Offices
- A New Exhibition Gallery Facing onto a New Exterior Events Courtyard Featuring an 8' x 20' Exterior Projection Screen
A third phase for SAAHP Library expansion has been designed, with construction pending fundraising.
Art studios equipped for drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking are located in Bristol in the dedicated Art Building. Lecture and classroom courses are held in shared University facilities.
Design Computing Laboratory
The School's main Design Computing Laboratory, completed in 1998 and upgraded on a three year cycle in 2001 and 2004, features 31 PC computers and high-end input and output devices, including 4 11x17 printers, multiple scanners, 4 plotters and a large format combination scanner/plotter. A second Advanced Modeling Laboratory was completed in 2005, and is equipped with 20 student workstations, and digital projection equipment and projection screen. Available software packages include:
- Autocad
- FormZ
- Adobe Creative Suite 2
- Quark
- SketchUp
- Maya
- GIS
- Rhino
- Multi-Frame
- Sound Forge
- Microsoft Office
- Inventor
- Adobe Studio Suite
Students have access to video cameras, and mobile computing and projection stations, which can be relocated around the building in support of Design Studio Reviews, lectures, and class presentations. The laboratory space is able to be re-configured to accommodate individual seminar and design studio presentations.
The entire Architecture Design Studio is networked for student laptop access from their desks. The new sections of the building are equipped for wireless internet access.
Architecture Library
The Architecture Library collection includes more than 20,000 books and 60,000 slides, and subscribes to over 200 periodicals and journals.
The Historic Preservation collection, considered one of the best of its kind in New England, includes the H.R. Hitchcock Collection of American Architecture books on microfilm, the complete HABS photographic collection, and international serials.
