The major requirement of this project was to transform Quinnipiac University's existing student union, giving it a sociability and verve it never had, while nearly doubling its size. The new center would also have to connect with the renovated dining hall and servery, the main classroom building, and the Alumni Hall multi-purpose room.
The existing hallway leading from the dining hall to the classrooms and passing through the old student union was enlivened along its full length with elements associated with village life that contribute to a sense of well-being and sociability. From the café the hallway now passes by an information pavilion and reading lounge before it expands to form an indoor "agora" ringed by an abstracted forest of "trees" which offer their curvilinear "roots" as places to sit. Located here at the "center of town" are the bookstore, post office, bank, and convenience store.
A large "tree" in the middle of the agora suggests the historic Charter Oak, symbol of the university, whose branches reach upward to the second floor, casting down a canopy of leaves in the form of irregularly sized glass blocks set within a curved south-facing wall. This wall introduces sunlight into the previously dark interior of the center and allows access to a small outdoor plaza. Upstairs, a chapel, radio station, game room, music listening room, and student locker area face onto the hallway to continue the village square theme set below.
Photography © Jeff Goldberg/Esto