Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., is set to begin a project to renovate and expand the Davis Center, a facility that acts as the physical, intellectual, and programmatic heart of the school’s efforts to build an inclusive community on Williams’ campus.
Leers Weinzapfel Associates, in collaboration with J. Garland Enterprises, will expand the 18,650-sf Davis Center to 26,350 sf with a new addition. The project will also include comprehensive renovations of the adjacent Rice and Jenness Houses. The resulting facility will feature universal access and increased space to accommodate Minority Coalition student gatherings, meetings, dialogue, classes, socializing, studying, and programming.
The new and renovated center will include modernized space built for current and future needs. The building will be a hub for the education, activism, community building, academic exploration, well-being, and celebration that happens within.
The project will reflect the domestic scale of the neighboring Rice and Jenness Houses with an open, glazed ground floor that acts as an invitation to broad campus engagement. A roofscape references the peaks and valleys of the mountain ranges that surround the college.
Additionally, the Center will house a new large gathering and event space to host the wide range of Davis Center programs, student group meeting spaces at a variety of sizes, staff office space to accommodate program growth, and improved kitchens for cultural and student group use.
The Davis Center is slated for completion in fall 2023.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Oct 19, 2016
UC Merced to nearly double its size by 2020
Its growth strategy includes adding 1.2 million sf of space for teaching, housing, and research.
University Buildings | Oct 12, 2016
The new Hancher Auditorium opens on University of Iowa campus
The building replaces the previous Hancher, which was irreparably damaged in the 2008 flood.
University Buildings | Oct 11, 2016
The University of Iowa gets a new Visual Arts Building
The building was a collaborative effort between BNIM and Steven Holl Architects and marks the sixth facility the two firms have worked together on
Sponsored | University Buildings | Oct 3, 2016
Enhancing university life: The smart shower bead
Residential spaces that need to meet high traffic demands while accommodating an ever-changing populace creates a unique set of obstacles for any educational institution’s housing.
Sponsored | University Buildings | Sep 29, 2016
UWM’s Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex: The most distinctive building on campus
The largest building on campus, it was designed by Flad Architects to comply with LEED Gold Certification standards and to meet a wide range of current and future academic needs.
University Buildings | Sep 12, 2016
The University of Chicago’s newest residence halls are designed to be more like home
Abundant common spaces give students more chances to interact.
University Buildings | Aug 17, 2016
Supporting communities of motivated learners: reflections on SCUP-51
The two themes that were consistently woven into different topics were institutional transformation and connection with students.
University Buildings | Aug 16, 2016
New images of Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts revealed by Michael Maltzan Architecture
The arts center will foster creativity for making and presenting works across all disciplines
| Aug 10, 2016
UNIVERSITY GIANTS: Facing money woes, the nation's colleges double down on innovative ideas
Budget constraints are compelling some public institutions to pursue alternative methods of financing their major building projects.
| Aug 9, 2016
Top 70 University Engineering Firms
AECOM, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, and Jacobs top Building Design+Construction’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest university sector engineering and E/A firms, as reported in the 2016 Giants 300 Report.
