A brief description of the intention of the BVAC’s design, from the source.
The Black Family Visual Arts Center was designed by Machado Silvetti, an architecture and design firm that works in the U.S. and abroad. Their description of their work on this building project claims that the atrium is meant to promote a flow of ideas and interaction across the disciplines. (1)
“At the heart of the Visual Arts Center is the Arts Forum, a central atrium space, which brings light and air into the core of the urban block. The three-story space is designed to promote cross-disciplinary interaction and the collegial sharing of ideas. Teaching spaces and studios are organized into discrete program neighborhoods, which open to the Arts Forum on all three levels.”