This project required methodical and precise updates to Morse and Ezra Stiles at Yale University, designed by Eero Saarinen and completed in 1962. The library and dining halls were fully renovated, Saarinen’s below-grade common rooms were enlarged, and new skylights were added into the original ceiling. A 25,000-square-foot underground addition was designed beneath the existing courtyard. It leads to a newly created sunken courtyard that fills the addition with daylight. The project was the final phase in Yale’s renovation of its 12 residential colleges.
Jury: “It is sensitive to the resources and shows real attention to detail—great use of materials, lighting dynamics, and spatial results.”
Client: “When those colleges were done in the ’60s, they were done in a more austere financial climate, and we had to provide program areas that didn’t exist. The architects understood the need for new program areas and were very committed to Saarinen’s original design intent.” —Mark Francis, major project planner, Yale University
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