Drexel Celebrates Grand Opening of New URBN Center for Arts and Design on April 12
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Drexel University's Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design will mark the official opening of its new home, The URBN Center (3501 Market Street), with URBN ReNEWal, a grand opening celebration on Friday, April 12, from 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Called “one of Philadelphia's most thrilling new designs” by The Philadelphia Inquirer’s architecture critic Inga Saffron, the iconic 3501 Market Street building created by Robert Venturi was transformed into a state-of-the-art center for design and the arts by the noted design firm of Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, LTD.
Guests are invited to explore the new, 140,000 square-foot facilities, which include a music recording studio, a nationally and internationally ranked video game design lab, a fabric dying and printing studio, a fashion research lab and a radio and television broadcast production facility, and much more.
The event will feature demonstrations and work from by students in programs ranging from fashion, product design, design & merchandising, interior design, architecture, digital media, gaming, animation, music industry, theater, dance, music, photography, fine arts, film, screenwriting & playwriting and television programs in such brand new facilities as the Pearlstein Gallery, a black box theater, a motion capture studio, a hybrid making lab, and the Drexel Historic Costume Collection.
Event highlights include:
- One of the top jugglers in the world, Drexel student Thom Wall, will perform
- Five teams of dancers wearing student-designed costumes will perform at different stations throughout the building throughout the evening
- Twenty Lady Gaga-inspired dresses designed by students from the fashion design program will be on display
- Music program director Luke Abruzzo and his students will perform on guitar, bass and drums outside of the URBN Center Annex
- Students will be working in the model-making/prototyping shop, operating 3D printers which will print out USB drives
- Students will rehearse their upcoming performance of "The Grapes of Wrath" in URBN Annex Black Box Theater
- Drexel’s student-produced sitcom “Off-Campus” will screen an episode in the URBN Annex Screening Room
- Guests will be able to watch as the motion capture studio animates digital character with motions from human actors
- Models and drawings by architecture students, inspired by a study abroad trip to Barcelona, will be on display
- Visual art and photography by students will be featured in the main lobby
- A pop-up shop in the lobby will sell student-designed clothing, jewelry and accessories
Also on display in the newly expanded Leonard Pearlstein Galley in the URBN Center Annex will be the most treasured works of art and archival artifacts from around the University, shown together for the first time in Drexel’s history in an exhibit entitled A Legacy of Art, Science & Industry: Highlights from the Collections of Drexel University. The exhibition will be open to public and free of charge through Friday, May 31.
The URBN Center includes two state-of-the-art buildings, which house 12 of the College’s 22 academic programs as well as the College’s administrative functions.
To RSVP for URBN ReNEWal, click here.
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