Pembroke Hall Renovation
Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
2008

Pembroke Hall is a historical building on the Brown University campus and the original home of Pembroke College.  The renovated facility provides classrooms, offices, conference rooms, and a multi-purpose seminar space for the new multidisciplinary Cogut Humanities Center and the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women.  In addition to exterior restoration work, the project refurbishes and highlights original historical spaces to maintain ties to Pembroke College, the original Women’s College.  Dual entrances, on the south and north façades, provide an axis through the building to tie Meeting Street to Pembroke Campus greens.  The spacious central halls lend themselves to multi-functionality – acting as a circulation spine, a gallery, as well as a place of gathering.

The renovation approaches the historical building without mimicry, using a minimal material palette and clean massing to define a clear contrast between the old and new while remaining respectful to the original building.  The abundant use of transparent and translucent glass introduces daylight deep into the center of the space while contrasting it with the details of the original timber and brick structure. This juxtaposition between the new offices and historic envelope brings about awareness of Pembroke Hall’s past while demonstrating the new institutional vision of the university.

Credits:

Design Team: Toshiko Mori, Michelle Kim, Scott Wells, Avis Lai
Contractor: E. W. Burman, Inc.
Structural: Lemessurier Consultants
MEP: Plus Group Consulting Engineering
MEP of Record: Gaskell Associates Consulting Engineers
Civil: Vanesse Hangen Brustlin Inc.
Lighting: One Lux Studio
Site Lighting: Tillotson Design Associates
Landscape: Todd Rader + Amy Crews Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Acoustic: Arup Acoustics
Historical Preservation: Donald Baerman AIA Architect LLC
Code Consultant / Fire Safety: Hughes Associates Inc.

Photographs © Iwan Baan