Naming Gift Opportunities
Making this facility possible are Nancy and Curt Richardson, OtterBox and Blue Ocean co-founders, who pledged $8.1 million to the facility. The $19.2 million project provides a new, state-of-the-art creative space for students and faculty in programs across campus, including interior architecture and design, apparel and merchandising, landscape architecture, art, engineering, product development, entrepreneurship, construction management, and others. Learn more about the new Nancy Richardson Design Center on the SOURCE news page.
For information about naming opportunities available in the Nancy Richardson Design Center, contact Kim Winger, Executive Director of Development, College of Health and Human Sciences at (970) 491-2797 or kim.winger@colostate.edu. Make a gift to the RDC on our online giving page.
Envisioning Collaboration
The Nancy Richardson Design Center houses design studios, fabrication/prototype/ideation labs, presentation spaces, classrooms, and computer labs. The outdoor spaces, including the Inspiration Alley, the Oasis, the Park, and the Café Terrace offer unique opportunities for alumni gatherings, tailgates, and student interaction.
Nancy Richardson Design Center Director
Laura Malinin, assistant professor of interior architecture and design in the Department of Design and Merchandising, serves as the director of the Nancy Richardson Design Center at CSU.
She is a registered architect (Texas) and cognitive scientist at CSU where she has received awards for teaching and research excellence. She holds an undergraduate degree in architecture and art and art history from Rice University, an M.Ed. in educational technology from the University of Texas, and a joint Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in design and planning through the College of Architecture and Planning and cognitive science through the Institute of Cognitive Science.
In the director role, Professor Malinin led the development of new curriculum in design thinking, including a certificate program. She will also identify and coordinate opportunities for interdisciplinary cooperation across CSU.
Innovative Hub
Design touches everybody, whether they recognize it or not.
As CSU Chancellor Tony Frank describes, “The Nancy Richardson Design Center will position Colorado State University to become an innovative hub for design-thinking and entrepreneurship in the Rocky Mountain region. Integrating with our exceptional academic programs in design, engineering, business, and the arts, it will be a magnet for creativity, where talented students, faculty, and industry leaders gather to learn, discover, and design together.”
The Nancy Richardson Design Center provides opportunities for cross-coordination and interdisciplinary learning across campus; recruiting the best scholars and innovators as design professors, lecturers, and industry guest faculty; and strengthening design programming and national reputation through the integration of real-world working scenarios and applications in a state-of-the-art facility.
Students from multiple disciplines will come together in the Nancy Richardson Design Center to create, innovate, and collaborate in an open and immersive design community. As our lead donor and alumna, Nancy Richardson (housing and interior environment, ’82), further explains, “Design touches everybody, whether they recognize it or not. In our journey as entrepreneurs, Curt and I experienced first-hand the tangible benefits of multidisciplinary project management, and we are enthusiastic about the opportunity to encourage that same approach in design education at CSU.”