An $8.1 million donation from the co-founders of OtterBox will help pay for a new design center at Colorado State University, the Fort Collins school announced Tuesday.
Nancy Richardson, who founded the gadget-protection company in 1998 with husband Curt, graduated from CSU in 1982 with a degree in interior design.
She’s credited as a design adviser on several buildings, including OtterBox’s headquarters. In a statement, she cited the importance of a multidisciplinary project management and wanted “to encourage that same approach in design education,” she said.
The gift will be used to fund a 40,000-square-foot building to be named Richardson Design Center, which will be located on Lake Street, east of the new campus stadium. The total cost of the new facility is estimated to be $16.4 million and the school plans to continue fundraising.The new creative space will include programs such as interior design, design and merchandising, landscape architecture, art, engineering, product development, entrepreneurship, construction management and others, according to CSU. The facility is expected to open in January 2019.
