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

  • Active Learning Classroom

    Striking a Balance: The Keys to Renovating Science Education Buildings for the 21st Century

    The recent renovation of the Durham Science Center at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) provides a roadmap for facilities managers tasked with balancing budget constraints, modern pedagogical demands, and long-term sustainability.

  • Ancient Resilience: How Indigenous Intelligence Shapes the 4Roots Education Building

    As climate change intensifies, educational spaces must evolve beyond basic sustainability toward true resilience – we must design environments that can adapt, respond, and thrive amid shifting, and intensifying, climate hazards. Drawing on indigenous wisdom and nature-based strategies, integrating resilient design offers a path to create learning environments that are not only functional but deeply in tune with their natural surroundings.

  • University of Connecticut Upgrades Basketball Facility’s AV Systems

    The University of Connecticut recently partnered with Metinteractive to upgrade the AV systems of the Gampel Pavilion basketball facility on its campus in Mansfield, Conn., according to a news release.

  • Kimball International Debuts Health & Education Experience Center

    Kimball International recently opened a new facility at its corporate headquarters in Jasper, Ind., that will act as a hands-on showroom for a variety of its furniture products and solutions, according to a news release. The 13,000-square-foot Health & Education Experience Center was originally designed by Gensler as the headquarters for Kimball International’s National brand.

Digital Edition