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1640 Meeting Street Road, Suite 202
Charleston, SC, 29405
United States

8437622222

For 70 years, Liollio has provided sustainable architecture, interior design, and historic preservation for public projects. We are an award-winning architecture firm located in Charleston, SC, who value subtle & restrained design, rooted in context, culture & collaboration. 

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News

Filtering by Tag: highereducation

MUSC Breaks Ground on New College of Medicine & Administrative Building

Mez Joseph

Liollio Architecture, in collaboration with [tag The S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM)], is proud to be part of the journey to redefine medical education in South Carolina. The new Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine & Administrative Building will provide a space for students, staff, and faculty to support innovation and progress in medicine, education, and research. We celebrate MUSC’s leadership in education and their commitment to excellence as they break ground on this facility. Congratulations to the MUSC community on this milestone! Take a sneak peek at the new MUSC College of Medicine below.

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categories Architecture, Celebration, Community, Construction, Education, Ground Breaking, Health & Wellness, Healthcare, Higher Education, Learning Environments, Local
tags MUSC, CollegeofMedicine, MedicalEducation, SLAM, TheSLAMCollaborative, Groundbreaking, architecture, design, community, construction, flythrough, animation, highereducation, highereducationdesign

Big Changes Coming to CofC’s Simons Center for the Arts

Mez Joseph

The Simons Center opened at 54 St. Philip St. in 1979 | Images via CofC

The Simons Center opened at 54 St. Philip St. in 1979 | Images via CofC

Charleston City Paper
Samantha Connors
September 7, 2021

The 42-year-old Albert Simons Center for the Arts, located at 54 St. Philip St., is getting ready for a facelift. Opened in 1979, the center was originally built to accommodate a maximum of 800 students, but with increased admissions, the Simons Center serves more than five times that number these days according to College of Charleston’s School of the Arts Dean Edward Hart.

“The Simons Center has been great, but after 40 years, it needs a little work,” he said in a press release. “Better facilities make for a better environment. Everybody wants to be in a place where it looks and feels nice, and where there’s appropriate space.”

The multimillion dollar renovation project will expand the building from 87,365 square feet to 99,000 square feet with additional classrooms and performance space.

Other new features will include larger classrooms, new seminar rooms, a two-story black-box theater, costume shop, scene shop and theater design studio, sculpture, printmaking and drawing studios, music practice rooms and more.

“This has been a long time coming and we’re delighted,” said Hart. “We are so appreciative of the College’s administration for supporting us. You know, when times are tough, very often the arts take it on the chin. And our administration has shown the foresight to really stand by us with this project, which indicates that the arts really are a priority for the College.”

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Construction will begin this fall and art classes will be moved to other areas of the campus and city including the former Redux building at 136 St. Philip St., the Lightsey Center and the Calhoun Annex. Renovations are expected to be complete by spring 2023.

Liollio Architecture and HGA Design Firm are tackling the redesign of the building and plan to incorporate bright colors that allude to familiar campus features like the Towell Library’s green door and Randolph Hall’s coral colored walls.

The renovation will not only make more run for incoming students but also help the school secure its place in Charleston’s flourishing art community.

“There really isn’t an artistic institution in this town that we aren’t somehow involved with, whether it’s a direct relationship or partnership or whether it’s our graduates that are over there or our faculty members,” said Hart, referencing the college’s involvement with many major art events and venues like Spoleto Festival USA and the Charleston Gaillard Center.

“We can just go on and on, and I think it’s time for us to claim that. Charleston is an arts city and we’re at the heart of it.”

The interior will feature some familiar elements, updated

The interior will feature some familiar elements, updated

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categories Architecture, Community, Construction, Education, Higher Education, Learning Environments, Local
tags collegeofcharleston, charlestoncitypaper, schoolofthearts, Simons, SimonsCenterfortheArts, SimonsCenter, performingarts, #cofc, highereducation, highered

College of Charleston Arts Building Set for Multimillion-Dollar Overhaul

Mez Joseph

A rendering shows a design of what the renovated Albert Simons Center could look like from St. Philip Street. College of Charleston/Provided

A rendering shows a design of what the renovated Albert Simons Center could look like from St. Philip Street. College of Charleston/Provided

By Maura Hogan mhogan@postandcourier.com
The Post and Courier
Sep 3, 2021

The College of Charleston is set to begin a multimillion-dollar renovation of the Albert Simons Center for the Arts.

It realizes a plan that was set in motion by the college years ago.

“This has been a long time coming and we’re delighted,” School of the Arts Dean Edward Hart said in a statement.

From the project’s onset, the college estimated its cost at $50 million. The arts center, which is on St. Philip Street on the college campus, will be closed for the next two years while the 42-year-old building’s renovation is completed. The renovation will upgrade classrooms and performance spaces as well as the building’s technology and infrastructure. Construction is slated to begin in late September.

The College of Charleston’s Albert Simons Center for the Arts will undergo extensive renovations. File/Brad Nettles/Staff

The College of Charleston’s Albert Simons Center for the Arts will undergo extensive renovations. File/Brad Nettles/Staff

Designed by Liollio Architecture and HGA Design Firm, the reimagined Simons Center is conceived to be inviting to students, featuring colors inspired by iconic architectural features found on campus, such as the blue-green door of Towell Library and the coral color of Randolph Hall.

“It will look brighter and I think it will be more noticeable from the street,” he said.

The work will involve 87,365 square feet, according to Brad Weiland, senior project manager for the College of Charleston’s facilities management, with the renovated Simons Center encompassing more than 99,000 square feet.

Hart points out that while the Simons Center has served the department well since opening in 1979, it was in need of an upgrade after more than 40 years. It opened with the aim of serving up to 800 students.

A rendering shows a possible design of what the renovated lobby of the Simons Center could look like, featuring large windows and tall ceilings. College of Charleston/Provided

A rendering shows a possible design of what the renovated lobby of the Simons Center could look like, featuring large windows and tall ceilings. College of Charleston/Provided

Today, the College of Charleston said the building, which is the main hub of the School of the Arts, accommodates five times that number.

Among the key improvements will be new seminar classrooms, updated and enlarged classroom spaces and a new two-story black box theater. The School of the Arts will also benefit from a state-of-the-art costume shop, scene shop and theater design studio; new sculpture, printmaking and drawing studios; a digital lab and gallery/multipurpose room; new music practice rooms and revamped dressing room spaces.

The renovation also includes mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and updated technological systems.

Five locations around campus will house School of the Arts programs and departments during the renovation. These include Harbor Walk West, 136 St. Philip St. (the former site of Redux Contemporary Art Studio); the Lightsey Center, Calhoun Annex (172 Calhoun St./Chapel Theatre); and 329 King St. (corner of King and George streets).

A rendering shows a design of the main corridor inside the Albert Simons Center. College of Charleston/Provided

A rendering shows a design of the main corridor inside the Albert Simons Center. College of Charleston/Provided

With the Recital Hall and the Emmett Robinson Theatre, located within the Simons Center, closed for the duration of the renovation, many School of the Arts performances will be held in the college’s Sottile Theatre as well as the Chapel Theatre.

Construction will run through 2022, and major completion of the building will take place in the spring of 2023, with an estimated opening for the fall 2023 semester, Weiland said.

With large windows, a modern façade and carefully chosen brick, Hart said the entrance is meant to subtly grab visitors’ attention as they make their way from the rear of Randolph Hall to St. Philip Street.

College of Charleston students visit the Albert Simons Center for the Arts in 2019. The building, located on St. Philips Street, soon will be getting a makeover. File/Brad Nettles/Staff

College of Charleston students visit the Albert Simons Center for the Arts in 2019. The building, located on St. Philips Street, soon will be getting a makeover. File/Brad Nettles/Staff

The building will also give added visual prominence to School of the Arts, and its role in the city of Charleston’s arts scene. It dovetails with new branding, centered on the tagline “The Artistic Heartbeat of Charleston.”

“There really isn’t an artistic institution in this town that we aren’t somehow involved with, whether it’s a direct relationship or partnership or whether it’s our graduates that are over there or our faculty members,” Hart said. 

The College of Charleston has deep connections with Spoleto Festival USA, Piccolo Spoleto, the Charleston Symphony, the Charleston Gaillard Center, the Preservation Society of Charleston, as well as many area theater and dance companies and art galleries.

“We can just go on and on, and I think it’s time for us to claim that. Charleston is an arts city and we’re at the heart of it,” Hart said.

With such an integral role in Charleston’s arts scene, the significant investment also bodes well for continued arts vitality in the years ahead.

“When times are tough, very often the arts take it on the chin. And our administration has shown the foresight to really stand by us with this project, which indicates that the arts really are a priority for the College,” Hart said.

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categories Architecture, Community, Education, Higher Education, Learning Environments, Local
tags #PostandCourier, CollegeofCharleston, #cofc, SimonsCenter, SimonsCenterfortheArts, Simons, AlbertSimons, highereducation, highereducationdesign, highered, performingarts, education, College, CollegeDesign, Design, Renovation, CharlestonSC, CharlestonArts, arts

Rick & Mary Lee Bastin Honored in Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for The Citadel's Bastin Hall

Mez Joseph

Bastin Hall, The Citadel's new school of business, was dedicated May 14. The design and construction was overseen by Liollio Architecture in association with ikon.5 architects. THS Constructors served as the general contractor for the project. Liollio is proud to have been part of this phenomenal and exciting project.

The new Bastin Hall building is a modern upgrade from the previous business school home. Originally constructed in 1922, Bond Hall has housed business school classrooms since the 1970s. “There’s a lot of state-of-the-art space here that we just didn’t have in our old building,” Dr. Michael Weeks, Dean said.

“I was a Mercedes dealer, and the CEO of Mercedes used to preach to us: ‘We need to amaze and delight our customers.’ Well, this building amazes and delights me, and it’s beyond my greatest dreams that it would come out this well,” said Rick Bastin, '65, joined by his wife Mary Lee, during a ceremony recognizing the couple’s efforts that made The Citadel's newest academic building a reality. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.

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categories Architecture, Celebration, Community, Construction, Education, Grand Opening, Higher Education, History, Learning Environments, Local, Ribbon Cutting
tags thecitadel, bastinhall, newschoolofbusiness, highereducation, businessschoool

USCB Hilton Head Hospitality Management Campus Featured in Local Life Magazine

Mez Joseph

LOCAL Life is about living well in the Lowcountry. Stories are everywhere: intriguing people and places, food and fashion, culture and creativity, homes and health. These stories embody our local style and sophistication with a southern twist. Eloquently written words and stunning photography capture the local essence in a way that educates, entertains and engages locals who are inspired and want more.

LOCAL Life Magazine, a publication celebrating the stories, culture, and people that make Hilton Head, Beaufort & Bluffton SC unique, showcases the University of South Carolina-Beaufort's Hilton head Hospitality Management Campus as a backdrop to a fashion shoot, while providing details on the building’s design. Visit www.locallifesc.com for more.

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categories Architecture, Community, Education, Global, Higher Education, Learning Environments, Local, Regional
tags HiltonHead, HiltonHeadSC, USCBeaufort, USCBHH, USCBHiltonHead, USCB, beaufort, beaufortsc, bluffton, blufftonsc, local, locallife, locallifemagazine, education, highered, highereducation, style, fashion, fashionshoot, design, architecture, islandlife, islandliving, USC, UniversityofSouthCarolina