Wednesday, January 1, 2025
By: Kyle Niblett
What started in an old attic of Peabody Hall with just 34 students has developed in the past 100 years into one of the most prestigious design colleges in America. This year, the University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning celebrates its Centennial. Throughout the year, the college will host events on campus and across the country celebrating with its more than 17,000 alumni. The celebration will culminate this fall with the completion of the brand-new Bruno E. and Maritza F. Ramos Collaboratory, a 50,000-square foot facility.
“This college reshaped everything I thought about myself,” said Mario Cartaya (BARCH ’74, MBC ’75). “DCP gave me the tools I needed to succeed and become the architect I always dreamed I could be. I could not have done it without the mentors and professors who challenged me to be a better version of myself.”
The college was originally formed in 1925 as the School of Architecture within UF’s College of Engineering. There, the famed Rudolph Weaver served as the director, with F.C. Gilson aiding him as an instructor in the school. Four years later, it was transitioned into the independent School of Architecture and Allied Arts, offering “special courses for mature students who desire to specialize in fields of endeavor in which drawing, and design are foundation courses.” Weaver would head this up as well, and four years later, in 1933, the Department of Landscape Architecture was added to the school.
In 1935, the Department of Building Construction was formed, making the academic unit now known as the M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management the oldest continuing building construction program in the country. The school went through several venue changes in the 1940s due to the Second World War and added Interior Design as a discipline in 1948. One year later, the school was officially renamed the College of Architecture and Allied Arts.
“I loved my time at DCP because all the disciplines in the real world are also here under one roof,” said Smita Sahoo, a 2005 interior design graduate.
The college was renamed again in 1957 into the College of Architecture and Fine Arts, and in 1964, construction began on the Architecture and Fine Arts Complex. During construction, students took classes in the legendary Grove Hall. Ten years after this, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning was founded (1974).
“It was a great time to be a student,” said Tina Gurucharri, former chair and associate professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, who was a DCP student from 1973-78. “It was exciting to be here at a time when things were quite rich. We were very environmentally conscious in a time of environmental crisis.”
In 1975, the College officially split from Fine Arts and became the College of Architecture. Five years after that in 1980, the Architecture Building opened, housing the entire college. Suzanna Masters Meadows graduated that year and is in awe of how far the college has come.
“We really didn’t have the job placement opportunities students have now,” she said. “Things exist today that didn’t exist when I went to school here. DCP gave me the foundation I needed to be successful.”
Two decades later in the year 2000, the college was officially renamed to its current name, the College of Design, Construction and Planning. With momentum in the college on the upswing, the School of Construction Management moved into the brand-new Rinker Hall in 2003. On May 7. 2004, the building became the first LEED Gold certified building in the state of Florida.
This past October, the Architecture Building was officially rechristened Jonathan and Melanie Antevy Hall. With Antevy Hall joining Rinker Hall and the Ramos Collaboratory, DCP becomes the only college in America focused on the built and natural environment with every facility (minimum three) bearing the name of philanthropic donors.
“This college will become a hub of innovation, a sanctuary for collaboration, and a beacon of hope for all who enter,” said Jon Antevy, a double-DCP graduate (BDES ’93, MSBC ’94).
For more information about DCP’s Centennial, including the events schedule and a soon-to-be-open centennial store, visit our new website at https://dcp.ufl.edu/dcp100/.