Beloit College has chosen Studio Gang Architects to convert a century old power-plant into a campus recreation and activity center. The project was born out of an ongoing partnership with Alliant Energy Wisconsin, the local utility company that currently holds the space, who has been in talks within the college for over a year.
“The Studio Gang team is very excited to partner with Beloit College,” stated Jeanne Gang. “Together we can transform this historic structure into a new hub for wellness, green power, and great architecture. By reflecting Beloit’s core values in the design, values shared by our team, we will create a model that will bring many benefits to the college, city, and region. This is a project that has the potential to inspire other communities around the globe.”
A selection committee made up of Beloit trustees, faculty, staff, and students selected Studio Gang from a shortlist of five nationally recognized firms. Christina Klawitter, the committee co-chair and Dean of Students at Beloit, cited their “creativity, talent, vision, care” and “enthusiasm for approaching this project as both collaborator and partner, learner and leader” as the driving reasons behind the decision.
“This project should be a model—for connecting college to community, campus to river, and our city’s past to its future while honoring the role Alliant Energy and its employees played in powering our state’s growth over a century,” explained Beloit College President Scott Bierman in a press event.
Studio Gang, the Chicago based firm led by Jeanne Gang, has recently gained recognition as one of architecture’s most innovative firms, particularly for their strength in restoring and enhancing natural and urban landscapes; this no doubt aided in their selection for the Beloit project, one that is primarily focused on adaptive reuse.
