Design firm hired for arts complex expansion

Lawrenceville has awarded Stevens & Wilkinson the design project for a new $26 million arts complex to be built in downtown. The city’s existing arts and cultural facility is currently home to the Aurora Theatre. With this expansion, designers will focus on a vertical floor plan, expanding adjacent to the existing structure, to include a new 500-seat theatre, educational facilities, additional parking and common space.

“It is very encouraging and promising to seesuch talent being attracted to our community to work on projects such as this one,” said City Manager Chuck Warbington. “We are grateful to have S&W as partners and look ahead to seeing how they capture the city’s vision architecturally and help take us one step closer to embodying the arts and education hub we are as a city and as the county seat of Gwinnett.”

S&W is responsible for design work on Columbus State University’s Corn Center for the Visual Arts, the Fine Arts Center in Albany, Georgia, and the Bailey Performance Center at Kennesaw State University. Additionally, the team’s experience extends to cultural facilities projects in Minneapolis, New Jersey and Columbia, South Carolina.

S&W will work with the city’s project management team of Croft and Associates to develop a design solution for the arts complex. The firm will work with the existing theatre to keep it operational as they expand it within the same block in downtown.

Information: www.lawrencevillega.org.