Below the Commons, service areas were reclaimed to create a sophisticated rathskeller for more casual dining with flexible seating, nooks, working fireplaces and a stage. Underneath Memorial Hall’s rotunda, the original Stony Creek granite foundation walls were exposed to form a circular room that now serves as an on-campus pub. Adjacent to these spaces, underground additions were built to accommodate dance, art installations and a food market called The Bow-Wow—named after Yale’s mascot, a bulldog. These areas can be accessed through the building or directly from a new sweeping exterior stair in Hewitt Plaza, a historically significant civic space on Yale’s campus that also features artwork by Alexander Calder and Isamu Noguchi.
On the ground level, RAMSA restored Memorial Hall’s rotunda and its alumni war memorial (the ceiling of which had been painted a dark midnight blue), but the team found restorative opportunities on the upper floors, as well. Over the years, many of these spaces had fallen into a state of disrepair, warranting painstaking preservation techniques but also making them ripe for programmatic reinvention. For example, lost plasterwork in the President’s Room was reconstructed while adjacent curving corridors were given new life as exhibition galleries. The once-grand space beneath Memorial Hall’s signature dome, which had been broken up into small offices and used by Yale’s yearbook staff for about 40 years, was cleared and repurposed as a flexible experimental performance space, offering up the ability to watch productions in the round.
Sensible Additions to Historic Buildings
Along Grove Street, a subtle new annex blends in with the existing building—quite intentionally. This addition, inspired by an unbuilt proposal designed by Carrère & Hastings (the Bicentennial Buildings’ original architect), replaced a 1-story kitchen and takes advantage of narrow proportions by punctuating two floors of offices and meeting rooms with a mezzanine level and double-height student lounges. Large clerestory windows and streamlined details provide a visual contrast with the existing neoclassical limestone façade that now doubles as an interior wall, and skylights throughout the annex ensure the Commons still receives natural light from the north (while emitting a gentle glow in the evening).
As in much of the Schwarzman Center, the annex is outfitted with state-of-the-art technology that enables virtual connection to extend the reach of the Schwarzman Center’s programming beyond campus to alumni, students abroad and the broader public. The annex and historic buildings are also fully accessible for the first time; two sets of public elevators have been added, along with ramps that connect Hewitt Plaza with the surrounding sidewalks.
One Yale
The Schwarzman Center is an expert and welcome addition to Yale’s campus, which comes as no surprise given that it is RAMSA’s third project for the university. Like the firm’s designs for the Greenberg Conference Center and Paul Murray and Benjamin Franklin Colleges, the center preserves the integrity of Yale’s campus traditions while meeting the needs of a modern institution and its students.
The project embodies what Yale President Peter Salovey has called his “One Yale” vision, which aims to foster interdisciplinary collaborations between schools, departments and programs. “It’s been an honor to work with my alma mater to restore and reinvent Yale’s Bicentennial Buildings,” DelVecchio says. The project will importantly “enrich student life and build lasting new bridges across Yale’s community for generations to come.”
Retrofit Team
ARCHITECT: Robert A.M. Stern Architects
- Robert A. M. Stern, senior partner
- Melissa DelVecchio, partner in charge
- Graham S. Wyatt, partner
- Jennifer L. Stone, partner
- Kurt Glauber, associate partner/manager
- Ken Frank, senior associate
- Marianna Monfeld, preservation specialist
- Shawn McCormick, interior designer
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Robert Silman Associates
CIVIL ENGINEER: Langan
MEP ENGINEER: AKF Group
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Dimeo Construction Co.
LIGHTING CONSULTANT: L’Observatoire International
ACOUSTIC CONSULTANT: Jaffe Holden
THEATER DESIGN CONSULTANT: Fisher Dachs Associates
SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT: Atelier Ten
FOOD SERVICE CONSULTANT: Ricca Design Studios
CABINETWORK AND CUSTOM WOODWORK: Millwork One Inc.
MILLWORK RESTORATION AND MODIFICATION: Whitehawk Construction Services Inc.
WOOD TRUSS, PLASTER AND BRICK HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION: John Canning
GRG PLASTER REPLICATIONS: Century Drywall Inc.
Materials
CRUCIFORM COLUMNS AT GROVE ADDITION: Shepard Steel Co. Inc.
INDIANA LIMESTONE AND MILFORD PINK GRANITE: Quarra Stone Co. LLC
AIR VAPOR BARRIER: BlueSkin from Henry Co.
BATTEN-SEAM METAL ROOFING: Freedom Gray Copper from Revere Copper Products Inc.
ALUMINUM FRAME REPLICA WINDOWS: Apogee Enterprises Inc.
LEAD CAMING FOR WINDOWS: Rohlf’s Stained & Leaded Glass Studio
GLASS: Solarban 60 from Vitro Architectural Glass fabricated by Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope
ELECTROCHROMIC GLASS: SageGlass
SKYLIGHTS: Acurlite Structural Skylights Inc.
BRONZE DOORS: Ellison Bronze Inc.
WOOD DOORS: Stile & Rail Doors from The Maiman Co.
STC DOORS: QuietStar Industries
DOOR HARDWARE: ASSA ABLOY
CUSTOM REPLICA DOOR PULLS: Rockwood Architectural Pulls from ASSA ABLOY
CUSTOM REPLICA DOOR LEVERS: Sargent Manufacturing Co. from ASSA ABLOY
WOOD ACOUSTICAL CEILING PANELS: SoundPly from Navy Island Inc.
ACOUSTICAL CEILINGS: BASWA Phon from BASWA Acoustic
SPECIAL SURFACING: StarSilent Acoustic Plaster from Pyrok Inc.
GRG PLASTER REPLICATIONS: Plasterform
OPERABLE ACOUSTIC WALL: Skyfold Classic 60 from SkyFold Inc.
GLASS PARTITIONS: LAMA Aluminum Frames from Modernus
CUSTOM DINING FURNITURE: Eric Brand Furniture
LOUNGE FURNITURE: Bernhardt Design
HISTORIC RESTORATION, REPLICATION AND CUSTOM LIGHTING: Grand Light LLC
ELEVATORS: KONE
PHOTOS: FRANCIS DZIKOWSKI/OTTO unless otherwise noted