Sometimes, a respectful restoration requires radical intervention, even by the most respectful of architects. Graduate and former dean of the Yale School of Architecture Robert Stern, and his New York–based firm Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA), led the transformation of a neoclassical Carrère & Hastings building at the heart of the university’s New Haven, Connecticut, campus into a center for dining and theater. In the process, they ripped out the old floor slab and the wood paneling in a train-station-scaled refectory, added a skylit two-story annex where there was once a terrace, exposed foundation walls, and carved a new exterior staircase within a prominent quadrangle.
The Schwarzman Center, named for billionaire Blackstone CEO and Yale alum Stephen Schwarzman, who made a $150 million gift toward the project, occupies much of what’s known as the Bicentennial Buildings (actually, one connected L-shaped structure), built in 1901 to honor the 200th anniversary of Yale’s founding. RAMSA’s project is meant to bring students together around the arts and meals—rather than the dining and socializing historically confined within residential colleges and separating those pursuing graduate degrees from undergraduates. It comprises the renovation of the entire northern wing, including the Memorial Rotunda that serves as the hinge with Woolsey Hall, the eastern leg (which was not part of the renovation’s scope and remained largely in operation throughout construction), as well as excavating 8,300 square feet to create an expanded basement level.
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