Design + Build

cleveland state gets an A+ for new student center
There's no guarantee that they'll study any harder, but those who attend Cleveland State University (CSU) will no doubt be spending more time inside the new and ultra-friendly Student Center. The $44-million building was officially unveiled to new and returning students at the beginning of the fall semester.

The Student Center features three lounges and several terraces for reading and relaxing. Dining options include the Viking Marketplace and Chop'd and Wrap'd. The Atrium Cafe serves local treats, such as Phoenix Coffee and Bialy's Bagels. A convenience store, a CSU bookstore and a 6,000-square-foot ballroom are other highlights of the Student Center.

Gwathmey Siegel & Associates of New York designed the facility to enhance the image of the overall campus and create an open connection with the city. The interior is bright and open, with plenty of areas to view the bustling cityscape.

"The Student Center will become the hub of campus life, the nexus where all of us – students, faculty and staff – come together to form a community," says Ronald M. Berkman, president of CSU. "Its importance cannot be overstated."

The Student Center is the latest in a series of construction projects on the CSU campus over the last few years. Led by the vision of former CSU president, Michael Schwartz, CSU has a long-range plan to make the school an integral party of the city.



SOURCE: Ronald Berkman
WRITER: Diane DiPiero
inspired by jewish culture and faith, new fuchs mizrahi school in beachwood is one for the books
The main entrance resembles an unrolled Torah. The color scheme throughout the building is inspired by vegetation mentioned in the Bible.

Every detail within the new Fuchs Mizrachi School in Beachwood has significance, whether it's about Jewish faith and culture or the latest in high-tech design. More than 400 preschool through high school students walked through the doors of the school on August 30, marveling at the architecture, the amenities and the space--something that had been dearly lacking for years.

In fact, Fuchs Mizrachi occupied two separate buildings in order to accommodate its students. Now, they all gather under one roof in a state-of-the-art setting.

Fuch Mizrachi is an Orthodox Jewish, Religious Zionist college prep school that seeks to grow students into young men and women who are capable of "swimming in all waters." The school was founded in 1983 as Bet Sefer Mizrachi of Cleveland and later renamed for major donors Leonard and Susan Fuchs.

Shaker Square's Bialosky + Partners designed the 100,000-square-foot school to consolidate the two existing campuses. In addition to respect for Jewish heritage, the campus design incorporates eco-friendly details: an advanced lighting control system, high insulation values, a geothermal HVAC system and energy recovery ventilators to improve fresh-air transfer from the outside. The project earned LEED Gold Certification.

Students may not immediately recognize the sustainability features in and around their new school. But they will drink in the beautiful beit midrash, or "hall of study," with its three-tiered ceiling and dramatic use of beams and pendant lighting. The new school also boasts two gymnasiums, a large music room and a theater.

On the day the school building was dedicated, Leonard Fuchs said that Fuchs Mizrahi "has become part of my body and soul." With a new location and a fresh look, the school will no doubt become an important part of its students' formative years.


SOURCES: Fuchs Mizrachi, Bialosky + Partners
WRITER: Diane DiPiero
photo slide show: ingenuity fest
We managed to squeeze three days of mind-bending, jaw-dropping art, technology, music and performance art at the Ingenuity Fest into one teeny little photo slide show. Let Fresh Water managing photographer show you around.
contemporary art museum to get contemporary new home
It has always been a bit of an oxymoron: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland (MOCA) housed in a building with as much contemporary flair as an old-fashioned Cracker Jack box. And while visitors still came to the Carnegie Avenue location to admire the museum's growing collection of contemporary art, many surely wondered why such a gem wasn't located in University Circle with other great museums, especially the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Turns out, MOCA was wondering the same thing. The museum had been planning for ten years to leave its Carnegie Avenue location for a permanent home that reflected the cutting-edge and forward-thinking image for which MOCA has been known. That vision will soon take shape at the corner of Euclid and Mayfield in University Circle.

The new museum building will be part of a long-planned project that will bring restaurants, stores and housing to that section of Euclid Avenue.

In addition to a comfortable place to exhibit and store the museum's collections, the new MOCA building will help the museum increase its educational and public programs.

Farshid Moussavi with Foreign Office Architects of London designed the building, which will rely on clean lines and sharp angles made from glass and black steel to create a structure that promises to be as intriguing as the art displayed inside. According to the MOCA website, "The lobby is designed as an urban living room, a place for visitors to mingle, eat, shop, attend events, over the course of hours, or for brief interludes in a busy day. The building itself is a learning environment, infused at each level with education offerings that range from low tech to high tech, from contemplative to interactive, from solitary to group encounters. This building is an opportunity to provide a 21st century model of an art museum that anticipates dramatic shifts in how we learn, how we see, and how we socialize."

Jill Snyder, director of MOCA, is pleased with the multipurpose design an aesthetic appeal of the new building. "FOA's design for our building is the perfect expression of our program--one that will not only enable us to operate at the highest level, but that will also be beautiful, intriguing and sensitive to our urban surroundings and community."

The Cuyahoga County Planning Commission reports that MOCA hopes to break ground on the new museum building in late fall. The project is estimated at $26 million.


SOURCE: Jill Snyder
WRITER: Diane DiPiero