When a college expands and grows, building shiny state-of-the art facilities at its periphery, the oldest buildings at the heart of campus are sometimes neglected. Such was the case with campanile-topped Gilman Hall at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The Federal style redbrick structure, built in 1915 to house the School of Arts and Sciences, occupied a privileged spot at the head of the main quadrangle. But despite its prominent location, Gilman, which included a library and four stories of office and classroom space around a courtyard, lacked basic infrastructure such as up-to-date climate-control systems and code-compliant stairs—that is, until the completion of a $58.6 million renovation last year by the New York City architects Kliment Halsband.

Not only were the facilities antiquated, but Gilman's space was underutilized: The 25,000 square feet of book stacks had sat almost completely empty since the construction of a new library in 1964. In addition, the courtyard, which included an enclosed passageway linking the main entry to a reading room, was inaccessible to occupants. It functioned as little more than a light well.