Project Description
This competition winning learning center incorporates the existing university library into a new center of student academic life. Organized around an East-West concourse of circulation, the new complex offers the student a broad array of social and educational experiences while reinforcing important campus spaces and views.
The new building is sited at the edge of a large open lawn facing the Mansion, designed by McKim, Mead & White to the east and the Student Center to the south and links the residential portion of the campus with the academic. The building incorporates a portion of the existing library and the historic Orangerie as a cafe and gallery space. The plan provides for a new auditorium, seminar rooms, group study rooms as well as offices, reference, general, media and periodical collections and a variety of seating options with a high level of connectivity. The new design provides a service-rich and uniquely social environment for learning and research in flexible and open space.
A LEED GOLD certified building, the south facing orientation will allow the new structure to maximize passive solar strategies and control abundant day light. The design incorporates local and recycled materials, storm water management and water conservation features, high efficiency mechanical and lighting systems and low emitting durable interior furnishings and finishes.