Shawmut Design and Construction has recently completed the $120 million renovation of Smith College’s Neilson Library in Northampton, Ma. The project took the original, outdated building and reimagined it as the energy-efficient, intellectual heart of the campus.
In partnership with architectural designer Maya Lin and principal architect Shepley Bulfinch, the 200,000-sf project restored the building and created an energy-efficient design and flexible collaborative workspaces.
The building’s main entrance opens into a large atrium that features a four-story oculus. The building’s use of glass, wood, and stone works with the design to promote harmony with the surrounding exterior landscape, designed by Edwina von Gal with Ryan Associates.
The original 1909 facade is incorporated into the reimagined building, which is composed of three distinct sections: the central core and two new wings. The new wings are dubbed jewel boxes for their curved, light-filled design made from a mix of masonry, wood, and glass.
The north wing, named for Smith’s ninth president, Ruth J. Simmons, comprises spaces to support active learning and innovation. The south wing, named in honor of Smith’s eighth president, Mary Maples Dunn, brings together special collections (the Sophia Smith Collection, Rare Books, and College Archives) into one climate-controlled area.
SEE ALSO: MiraCosta Community College to receive new Chemistry and Biotechnology Building
Flexible, collaborative workspaces include the Learning Commons, the Jill Ker Conway Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, and the Special Collections Seminar Room. A series of classroom spaces, a reading room, study areas, a sunken courtyard, and event spaces, and an outdoor amphitheater with shaded seating are also included.
A Digital Media Hub offers studios for students to record podcasts, videos, and use other digital media; self-service labs for students to use technologies such as spatial analysis, gaming software, survey software, and GIS; a User Experience Lab for research and usability testing; and access to large-format and 3D printers.
Additionally, the Neilson Library is now connected to the recently renovated Alumnae Gym via an interior walkway. The Alumnae Gym provides additional learning spaces that are open 24/7.
Sustainability features include a high-performance building envelope, advanced daylighting strategies, and materials that promote health and wellness. Throughout, the library incorporates materials that promote health and wellness by not containing harmful chemicals, as well as local, regional, and recycled products. The building has the ability to become an ‘all-electric’ complex and is pursuing LEED V.4, Gold Accreditation.
Related Stories
| Apr 16, 2012
University of Michigan study seeks to create efficient building design
The result, the researchers say, could be technologies capable of cutting the carbon footprint created by the huge power demands buildings place on the nation’s electrical grid.
| Apr 16, 2012
UNT lab designed to study green energy technologies completed
Lab to test energy technologies and systems in order to achieve a net-zero consumption of energy.
| Apr 13, 2012
Goettsch Partners designs new music building for Northwestern
The showcase facility is the recital hall, an intimate, two-level space with undulating walls of wood that provide optimal acoustics and lead to the stage, as well as a 50-foot-high wall of cable-supported, double-skin glass
| Apr 11, 2012
C.W. Driver completes Rec Center on CSUN campus
The state-of-the-art fitness center supports university’s goal to encourage student recruitment and retention.
| Mar 28, 2012
Holden Cancer Center opens at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
The new cancer clinic provides a significant increase in patient space from the prior facility, which was located in an adjacent building.
| Mar 28, 2012
Tsoi/Kobis & Associates developing master plan for UT Southwestern Medical Center
Firm will spearhead strategies for transforming existing in-patient hospital into state-of-the-art ambulatory care facility.
| Mar 27, 2012
Groundbreaking held for Valencia College West Campus Building 10 in Orlando
Project led by design-build team of SchenkelShultz Architecture and McCree General Contractors, both of Orlando.
| Mar 26, 2012
McCarthy tops off Math and Science Building at San Diego Mesa College
Designed by Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker, the new San Diego Mesa College Math and Science Building will provide new educational space for students pursuing degree and certificate programs in biology, chemistry, physical sciences and mathematics.
| Mar 21, 2012
Iowa’s Mercy Medical Center’s new Emergency Department constructed using Lean design
New Emergency Department features a "racetrack" design with a central nurses' station encircled by 19 private patient examination rooms and 2 trauma treatment rooms.
| Mar 20, 2012
Stanford’s Knight Management Center Awarded LEED Platinum
The 360,000-sf facility underscores what is taught in many of the school’s electives such as Environmental Entrepreneurship and Environmental Science for Managers and Policy Makers, as well as in core classes covering sustainability across the functions of business.
