Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Lafayette College

Arts Plaza

  • 03/01/14
Lafayette College Arts Plaza 

PHOTOS © BARRY HALKIN PHOTOGRAPHY, COURTESY OF SPILLMAN FARMER ARCHITECTS

The $1.7-million, 7,000-square-foot Arts Plaza is a raw, open-air space for the arts at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. Spillman Farmer Architects of Bethlehem, PA, served as the project’s architect. The project transformed a former auto-repair facility into a dynamic outdoor teaching space that responds to its natural environment and built context. Designed as an outdoor black box theater, the plaza hosts a wide variety of planned and spontaneous artistic endeavors, including performance art, visual art exhibits and small group musical performances.

The Arts Plaza received a Citation of Merit from The American Institute of Architects, Pennsylvania Chapter.

The project is a distillation of the existing structure. The facility’s concrete platform foundation and timber frame, both salvaged and re-utilized elements of the former building, are complemented by newly introduced masonry and steel. Inside the plaza, the design team repaired and refinished the concrete floor slab. The existing structure and new interventions work together, telling a story of history and use, while creating a new identity for the space.

The Arts Plaza introduces new materials, such as brick and steel, in unconventional ways. They lend a tactile, experiential quality to the space, while honoring the city’s prevailing architecture. The plaza’s masonry walls are clad with clinker brick; a cast off of the brickmaking process, whose curvature and malformations are accented, rather than minimized. The brick’s curvature and imperfections provide texture and counterbalance the well-organized, restrained space.

The selection of humble materials and the repurposing of many elements of the old structure represent Spillman Farmer’s signature design approach of utilizing familiar, utilitarian materials to create extraordinary architectural results. This philosophy steered the design process that has resulted in a dramatic, yet elegant and restrained arts complex that complements the post-industrial urban environment of Easton and provides a new gateway for the college.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Fayetteville State University Opens New College of Education Building

    Fayetteville State University (FSU) in Fayetteville, N.C., recently celebrated the opening of a new $69.3-million College of Education building, according to a university news release.

  • Building Beyond Simulation: Creating Immersive Ecosystems for Healthcare Education

    Health sciences education is one of the fastest-growing facility types in colleges and universities. The demand for medical, nursing, and allied health professionals is driving the creation and renovation of medical simulation training facilities that provide students with real-world experience through advanced simulation-based learning.

  • Longwood University Hits Construction Milestone on New Music Education Facility

    Longwood University in Farmville, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of its new music education and performance facility, according to a news release. The university partnered with development and construction firm Skanska on the 63,800-square-foot facility, which began construction in August 2025 and has an estimated completion date of fall 2028.