Marvin Studios

This small, winged building south of Marvin Hall was designed by State Architects Ray Stookley and Charles L. Marshall and built in 1942 by Works Progress Administration and National Youth Administration crews.

Its innovative technology of rammed earth and concrete bricks was developed by engineering Professor W.C. McNown, and it was from the first known as “the Mud Hut.” 

It was a studio for engineering and fine arts students, and KANU/KFKU radio stations went on-air from studios there in 1952, after which it was known as Broadcasting Hall. The cryogenics laboratory there had two explosions in the summer of 1959, so it was moved to undeveloped west campus land. 

After engineering students moved to Learned Hall in 1963, textile, weaving and silversmithing students retained studio space. KANU got a new expanded facility in September 2003, and architectural engineering studios and faculty moved into the building, renamed Marvin Studios.