Earlier this week, students, faculty and staff at the Yale School of Management (SOM) got a sneak peek at designs in progress for the school’s new campus. Acclaimed architectural firm Foster + Partners’ was selected just over a year ago through a long and competitive process to spearhead the project, charged with creating a building whose design could help drive interaction and teamwork among students.
David Yager, an architect and planner in the Yale University Office of Facilities, praised the selection of Lord Norman Foster, an alumnus of the Yale School of Architecture (’62), to design the new campus. “He was absolutely the right architect for the project, and when you see the designs, I think you’ll agree with me,” he said to the audience.
Chris West, a partner at Foster + Partners and the lead architect working on the Yale SOM campus, proceeded to present slides of some of the architects’ visualizations of the new building. Glass facades, open layouts and expansive courtyards are among the design’s distinct features, intended to help create a sense of interconnectedness. Classrooms of various shapes and sizes, outfitted with cutting-edge technology, will accommodate different teaching and learning experiences.
“This project is very important to the office and to Norman,” West said. The London-based firm spent a great deal of time on the SOM campus, learning about its academic programs and culture, before sketching and testing new ideas back at their studio, he said.
Environmental concerns, too, have driven the design process, West said. For example, the glass exterior will include movable screens to help block glare and improve the performance of the heating and cooling systems. In fact, the team is considering energy efficiency with every design decision – from how to incorporate low-energy heating systems to how the glass is manufactured to what material to put on the roof. It hopes to achieve a high LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System) rating for environmental performance.
Yale’s new dean, Sharon Oster, praised the plans for the new campus. “It really is a fabulous building,” she said. The new building will be completed, officials hope, by the fall of 2011, according to the Yale Daily News.
To learn more and to view renderings of the proposed building, click here.
