In many ways, Augustana University and TSP have grown up together. Since the 1940s, TSP architects, engineers, planners, and interior designers have been privileged to help shape campus development. Our longstanding relationship began with a master planning effort led by our founder, Harold Spitznagel. Back then, “Augie” was Augustana College, and our firm still was a sole proprietorship. In fact, TSP and Augie were neighbors for many years, when our office occupied a two-story building Spitz designed at 26th Street and Summit Avenue. Our connections deepened across the decades as we collaborated on small remodels, major additions and new facilities, long-term visioning, and everything in-between.

The connection between Augustana University and TSP has deepened over the decades, as we have collaborated on more than 150 projects both large and small, from a renovation of the school’s bowling alley, multiple campus masterplans, the magnificent Froiland Science Complex, the beautiful Hamre Recital Hall, and the recently completed Wagoner Residence Hall. A special kind of trust has developed over the years, one that grows among people and the entities that rely on each other.

Celebrating our History

Often, our collaborations with Augie seem to come full circle. Many buildings on campus were designed by our predecessors at the firm and have since been renovated by past and current team members. Among them are Morrison Commons, the Humanities Building and adjoining Center for Visual Arts, Mikkelsen Library, the President’s House, and others. TSP provided engineering designs for the original HPER Center, now known as the Elmen Center, and our architects and engineers have since collaborated on two additions to that athletics facility.

The Froiland Science Complex project, dedicated in September 2016, included a substantial renovation of the 1966 Gilbert Science Center. Our architects and interior specialists were mindful of the need to not only integrate old and new as seamlessly as possible, but to make the old new again. We committed just as much effort and creative design-thinking to reinvigorating the Gilbert spaces as we did creating the new Froiland addition. In fact, students moving through the building have asked where the old building starts, even as they’re standing inside it.

The Froiland Complex honors the Gilbert Center’s character and legacy. A mosaic installed as part of the original facility’s design (left) was salvaged and placed at the entrance to a new auditorium. Augustana art professor and frequent TSP collaborator Scott Parsons reimagined the historic Foucault pendulum, which now creates a stunning, three-story display in the stairway.

A TIMELINE OF TSP PROJECTS AT AUGUSTANA

Since the 1940s, Augustana and TSP have grown together. Over the past 80+ years, TSP has collaborated on more than 150 projects both large and small, from renovations and additions to brand-new buildings.

Art in Architecture

The Spitznagel Medal is the most significant award presented by the Augustana Art Department to students who demonstrate the highest standards of excellence in all artistic endeavors during their Augustana careers. In some years, no medals are presented; and in others, multiple medals can be awarded.

The namesake of Augustana’s highest award for art students was born in Sioux Falls in 1896. Harold Spitznagel earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1925. In 1930, he returned to Sioux Falls to establish his one-man practice. Spitznagel quickly developed numerous friendships and lasting business relationships.

Many of those long-term relationships were built on the Augustana campus, where Spitznagel’s first project at Augustana involved a master planning effort in 1945.

Spitznagel’s strong connection to the art world and his friendship with Augustana art professors Ogden Dalrymple, Palmer Eide, Robert Aldern, and Carl Grupp provided the lasting inspiration for an award to recognize outstanding students for achievement in art.

“I think they all really just admired Harold’s belief that art and architecture should go together,” said John Peters, Eide/Dalrymple Gallery Coordinator and Sculpture/3-D Design Instructor at Augustana University. “That’s just an ideal that I think we all still want to pursue.”