The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts will hold a groundbreaking for the future Creativity and Innovation Complex this week.
The event is set for 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25, at the school, located at 200 Whittington Ave. in Hot Springs. A reception will follow in the ASMSA Boardroom in the Administration Building.
The $4.5 million Creativity and Innovation Complex will be the first new academic facility constructed on campus since the school opened in 1993. The building will provide classroom space for computer science as well as a “maker space” for 3D printing, CNC milling, laser cutting and rapid prototyping. Classroom space for digital arts—such as digital photography and graphic design—is also included in the building plans as is a music rehearsal space for band and choir.
The CIC will also include an assembly space that will be large enough to hold all of the students at one time. In order to hold an all-school assembly currently, ASMSA has to meet off campus at First Presbyterian Church across the street from the school. The space will also be used for events such as the West Central Regional Science Fair and Senior Research Symposium, ASMSA’s annual college fair, the annual Honors Convocation and annual Community of Learning Luncheon.
Work on the 20,000-square-foot complex is expected to start this fall with the building opening in 2019. Funding for the project includes a $300,000 grant from the Oaklawn Foundation and more than $175,000 in gifts from the Dan Fredinburg Foundation as well as his family and friends and other gifts in his honor. Fredinburg, a 1999 ASMSA alumnus, was the head of privacy for Google X, the research and development facility for Google, at the time of his death in April 2015.
ASMSA also received a $500,000 General Improvement Fund grant from Gov. Asa Hutchinson during the 90th General Assembly in 2015. The majority of those funds were used for architect and engineering fees for the formal plans and renderings of the CIC. The remaining funds will be used toward the construction of the building.
Friday’s event will feature several speakers, including ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice; Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt, president of the University of Arkansas System; state Sen. Bill Sample; state Rep. Les Warren; and members of the Fredinburg family.
Other state and local dignitaries expected to attend include state Rep. Bruce Cozart, state Rep. Laurie Rushing, state Sen. Alan Clark, Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe, and Hot Springs City Manager David Frasher and Deputy City Manager Bill Burrough.
The project was designed by Harris Architects of Hot Springs. Seale’s Construction Co. of Sparkman was recently selected to oversee the construction of the CIC.