The heart of the university’s new building for the College of Humanities & Fine Arts is a three-story skylit commons, envisioned as a meeting and event space. It is bounded by the original, 1885 building and the new addition, and ringed with instructional space at ground level. Circulation and utility cores in the new wing provide needed services to bring the historic building up to code and provide accessibility to all levels. New entrances join three levels of the campus to the central atrium, reinforcing the goals of the campus master plan. Instructional spaces on the lower levels can be reconfigured to accommodate a variety of teaching and learning styles. Upper floors house academic offices organized around central departmental offices and seminar rooms. A two-story graduate student commons on the theses upper floors is an important mixing space, encouraging synergies between departments. The plans are further designed to accommodate future changes in department size.

This project was completed by Kliment Halsband Architects prior to becoming a Perkins Eastman Studio.