Ringling College officially opened the new multi-use Hammond Studios last month. The mixed-use building features classrooms and facilities for metalworking, mold making and casting, as well as sewing and textile work. It is part of the College’s Makerspace fabrication shops.
The building was the College’s first official dining hall. It had a capacity of 184 people and opened in 1990. In 1991, it was officially designated Hammond Commons.
This building’s namesake, Alice Hammond, was a member of the College’s Board of Trustees. In addition to Hammond Commons, Hammond made another generous donation and had a residence hall named in her honor.
The new facility will be an integral space for the Fine Arts department and its students, as well as students from any major.
“One of the things we were really intentional about when designing this space was having specialized studios that are tailored to the needs of each discipline, in addition to more communal spaces like classrooms,” said Noah Coleman, who oversees the Makerspace as the Visual Art Center Studio Manager and Technician. “So there are these social areas like the classroom and bench room, plus our more specialized areas for metalworking, mold making, and sewing.”
The Sewing Studio has facilities for cutting, pressing, and sewing fabric, as well as weaving, crochet, and embroidery. Open to all students, it fills a strongly felt need for textile workspaces on campus. It is the home of the first costume construction course at the College.
The Mold Making Studio provides facilities for working with a range of materials, including plaster, alginate, silicone, urethane, and many other commonly used materials in mold making. The Metal Fabrication Studio is equipped with all the necessary tools to bend, shape, join, grind, and form metal.
“These areas, combined with our existing studios for wood, glass, digital fabrication, and letterpress, really round out the facilities that the Makerspace offers to the Ringling community,” Coleman shared.
The Makerspace also features the Wood Shop, the Letterpress and Book Arts Studio, the Digital Fabrication Studio, and the Glass Studio, all housed within the Basch Visual Arts Center. Explore all of the Makerspace Studios and facilities on their website.
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