Arch Painting Partners with Rhode Island School of Design to Preserve and Beautify Historic Campus

Overview

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), one of the world’s leading art and design institutions, sought a trusted partner to maintain and enhance its historic campus in Providence, Rhode Island. With a reputation for excellence and a deep understanding of the unique needs of educational environments, Arch Painting® was selected to provide comprehensive painting services across multiple facilities. 

Arch Painting partnered with RISD in 2019, and has since continued to ensure its campus maintains freshly painted spaces, in both planned capital expenditure projects as well as reactive maintenance painting. Since that time, Arch Painting has become a trusted partner and go-to solution for any painting project RISD has identified.

Challenge

RISD’s campus is a blend of historic architecture and modern creative spaces. Arch Painting has worked hand in hand with RISD’s facilities managers to freshen up:

• Historic dormitories – RISD’s historic buildings in Providence, require an understanding of historic preservation, respecting detailed woodworking facades and protecting original stone and brick.
• Window repainting – Detailed and precision painting was needed to ensure a clean repaint of historic and brick building windows like in the Soma building. This requires using a lift and managing both automotive and pedestrian traffic on a main road in Providence.
• Painting the RISD Museum – A collection which houses over 100,000 priceless works of art, requires strict security and artifact protection.
• Refreshing studio spaces to inspire creativity for faculty and students.
• Reactive maintenance painting to ensure the campus is always looking clean, and fresh.

The complexity of these tasks demanded a painting partner with expertise in historical preservation, safety protocols, and operational flexibility.

Solution

Arch Painting implemented a tailored approach for each space:

• Historic Dormitories: Applied specialized techniques to handle quirks of older structures, respecting original stone and brick work and painting detailed woodwork to ensure historic buildings are refreshed and ready for modern use.
• RISD Museum: Coordinated closely with museum staff to secure artifacts, implement preventative measures, and maintain strict security during painting.

Studio Spaces: Delivered vibrant, clean environments that foster creativity and align with RISD’s mission of questioning and creating.

Results:

• Enhanced the aesthetic appeal and functionality of RISD’s campus.
• Preserved the integrity of historic buildings while ensuring safety.
• Supported RISD’s commitment to providing inspiring spaces for art and design education.

Arch Painting has enjoyed a long relationship with RISD and is proud to be its go-to painting partner to ensure its campus is always looking its best.

“Working with RISD to paint its beautiful historic buildings, art museum, and academic studios for current and future students has been a point of pride for Arch Painting,” said Rich Kilgannon, President & CEO of Arch Painting. “We want to be the go-to solution for RISD as it strives to maintain its beautiful campus.”