E. Craig Wall Jr. Academic Center

Project Details

Project Description

Shepley Bulfinch was engaged to create a 10-year campus master plan for Davidson College, a private liberal arts college with nearly 2,000 students in Davidson, North Carolina. The completion of the E. Craig Wall Jr. Academic Center (Wall Center) at Davidson reflects the college’s vision of an interdisciplinary learning environment.

The new Wall Center, and renovation of the adjoining Martin Chemistry Laboratory building, together comprise nearly 164,500 SF for collaborative teaching and research labs, faculty offices, and collaboration spaces, while providing campus amenities for the entire Davidson community. Named for E. Craig Wall, Jr., Class of ’59, who served on Davidson's Board of Trustees for more than 21 years, the
Wall Center site identified by Shepley Bulfinch, which incorporates the campus quad and existing Martin Chemistry Laboratory, strategically places science at the heart of the academic campus and creates a welcoming atmosphere for the surrounding community. Since opening, the south end of the campus has been re-energized with students and faculty engaged in learning and socializing well into the evening at the Wall Center.

Totaling 135,300 SF in two wings and joined to the Martin Building by a central atrium space, the new Wall Center features teaching and learning labs as well as spaces for collaboration, presentation and colloquia in a dynamic academic forum. Careful consideration was given to the design and scale of the Wall Center to fit what is now the largest building on campus comfortably within the campus fabric. The addition reinterprets tradition using a palette of brick and limestone, while the atrium creates a new and dynamic campus hub through a contemporary expression of metal and glass. The new construction navigates a change in terrain from the main campus quad down to a lower courtyard level with reflecting pool, and a new street entrance. Interior public space and exterior landscaped spaces flow seamlessly, enhancing campus connectivity and bringing the outside in.

A large glass façade facing the quad exposes an inviting four-story atrium, located where the Martin Building and the Wall Center intersect. Serving as the point of entry for the complex, the atrium features a stepped 120-seat forum at its heart, providing space for open study, exhibits, and presentations for use by the broader academic community. A large flat screen video wall and state-of-the-art audiovisual technology allow the forum to be readily transformed to accommodate lectures and large events. Offering amphitheater-style seating where students, faculty and staff can work or relax, this deliberately designed nexus promotes chance encounters, collisions of ideas, and social interactions. Students from both arts and sciences are drawn to the Wall Center’s large, open spaces, coveted study nooks, and a living wall where the soothing sound of trickling water helps ease the stresses of the day.

Driven by Davidson College’s commitment to sustainability, the project design is anticipated to receive LEED Gold certification by the USGBC. Green features include the living wall in the atrium space, maximum access to natural light and exterior views from interior spaces, daylighting and lighting controls, a rainwater re-circulation system located under the courtyard, and energy efficient building systems.