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
Adaptive Reuse | Dec 9, 2022
What's old is new: Why you should consider adaptive reuse
While new construction allows for incredible levels of customization, there’s no denying that new buildings can have adverse impacts on the climate, budgets, schedules and even the cultural and historic fabrics of communities.
Student Housing | Dec 7, 2022
9 exemplary student housing projects in 2022
Production continued apace this year and last, as colleges and universities, for-profit developers, and their AEC teams scrambled to get college residences open before the start of classes.
Student Housing | Dec 7, 2022
Cornell University builds massive student housing complex to accommodate planned enrollment growth
In Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University has completed its North Campus Residential Expansion (NCRE) project. Designed by ikon.5 architects, the 776,000-sf project provides 1,200 beds for first-year students and 800 beds for sophomore students. The NCRE project aimed to accommodate the university’s planned growth in student enrollment while meeting its green infrastructure standards. Cornell University plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035.
University Buildings | Dec 5, 2022
Florida Polytechnic University unveils its Applied Research Center, furthering its mission to provide STEM education
In Lakeland, Fla., located between Orlando and Tampa, Florida Polytechnic University unveiled its new Applied Research Center (ARC). Designed by HOK and built by Skanska, the 90,000-sf academic building houses research and teaching laboratories, student design spaces, conference rooms, and faculty offices—furthering the school’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) mission.
Education Facilities | Nov 30, 2022
10 ways to achieve therapeutic learning environments
Today’s school should be much more than a place to learn—it should be a nurturing setting that celebrates achievements and responds to the challenges of many different users.
University Buildings | Nov 13, 2022
University of Washington opens mass timber business school building
Founders Hall at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, the first mass timber building at Seattle campus of Univ. of Washington, was recently completed. The 84,800-sf building creates a new hub for community, entrepreneurship, and innovation, according the project’s design architect LMN Architects.
University Buildings | Nov 3, 2022
New College of Medicine debuts on University of Houston’s campus
It's part of a planned medical district.
University Buildings | Nov 2, 2022
New Univ. of Calif. Riverside business school building will support hybrid learning
A design-build partnership of Moore Ruble Yudell and McCarthy Building Companies will collaborate on a new business school building at the University of California at Riverside.
School Construction | Oct 31, 2022
Claremont McKenna College science center will foster integrated disciplinary research
The design of the Robert Day Sciences Center at Claremont McKenna College will support “a powerful, multi-disciplinary, computational approach to the grand socio-scientific challenges and opportunities of our time—gene, brain, and climate,” says Hiram E. Chodosh, college president.
University Buildings | Oct 27, 2022
The Collaboratory Building will expand the University of Florida’s School of Design, Construction, and Planning
Design firm Brooks + Scarpa recently broke ground on a new addition to the University of Florida’s School of Design, Construction, and Planning (DCP).