Key renovations throughout the RIT Campus

Two students and one student worker at in the new photo cage area, with the new lounge in the background.

College of Art and Design

Renovations to Gannett Hall include new student workspaces, labs, and classrooms.

The extensive renovation of RIT’s College of Art and Design—with keen focuses on key areas within the internationally recognized School of Photographic Arts and Sciences (SPAS) and School of Film and Animation—made significant strides in 2021.

The vast project is part of a five-year masterplan to renovate, rejuvenate, and transform spaces to meet the growing demands for a college that serves as RIT’s creative hub at the intersection of technology, art, and design.

The college is in the midst of completing a 10,000-square-foot renovation and expansion of the SOFA animation complex. This work will give students access to new 2D, 3D, and stop-motion classrooms with individual workstations and creative pen displays, a figure drawing studio, and state-of-the-art undergraduate and graduate animation labs. The first phase of these renovations was completed in fall 2022, and phase two of construction is anticipated to be completed in spring 2023.

In fall 2021, the college completed an expansion and reconfiguration of the SPAS facilities. This included an expansion of RIT’s photo equipment “cage”—now stocked with the latest gear for RIT students—and the creation of open and inviting new lounge where students and teams can work, study, and collaborate.

The expansion and reconfiguration of SPAS facilities was made possible with a $3.5 million gift to the school in 2019 by Chance Wright ’18 (advertising photography), ’19 (MBA), and his mother, Pamela Mars Wright—the largest single gift ever made to the college.

Research Lab Facilities

The RIT campus continues to grow and change with new building construction and renovations underway. Brown Hall will be renovated into laboratory space for several colleges this fall.

Construction on Brown Hall is in its final stages. Brown Hall will house a new laboratory for the College of Science’s Genomics Center, two laboratories for the College of Science’s School of Chemistry and Materials Science, five labs for Kate Gleason College of Engineering’s computer engineering department, and one for the College of Engineering Technology’s traffic studies laboratory.

Occupancy of the 40,000-square-foot building, which previously housed offices of RIT’s Division of Marketing and Communications and several classrooms, is expected by January 2023.

The renovations will cost nearly $6 million, with funding attained through New York state and matched by RIT.