Ranger Hall for the Harrington School of Communication and Media - Kingston, RIKingston, RI The University of Rhode Island has launched a $6.3 million renovation of Ranger Hall for the Harrington School of Communication and Media. Last month the University held a ceremonial “wall breaking” to signify the beginning of the project to overhaul Ranger Hall.
New technologies and traditional sources of information are now competing with online news sites, blogs and other new media. As technology advances and globalization increases, new collaborative and interdisciplinary skills are required. All the while, methods of gathering, storing and retrieving information are undergoing constant change.
The University of Rhode Island, recognizing this new reality, and seeking to create new synergies that will better prepare students to be leaders in the new media industry, united six academic departments related to communications and media.
They hired Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels Architects (DBVW) to program and masterplan for a 2-phase 90,000 s/f new Communications and Media School, as well as lead the design and construction administration stages for the first phase of the school.
The Phase I renovation of historic Ranger Hall will create classrooms, editing suites, a recording studio, a film screening room, a social media innovation lab and other spaces. URI provost Donald DeHayes says the 8,800 s/f renovation will ensure students have cutting-edge technologies and have the tools they need to prepare for rapidly changing and multifaceted careers. It will make Ranger Hall into the heart of URI’s Harrington School of Communication and Media. The building is expected to be ready in the academic year that begins next fall.