Award of Merit - Higher Education

Heimbold Visual Arts Center, Sarah Lawrence College

It wasn't easy to place a 61,000-sq.-ft. modern building in the middle of wooded hills and the traditional architecture of Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. A tight schedule and a tight site added to the project's complexity.

The three-story Monika A. and Charles A. Heimbold Visual Arts Center, which opened in time for the start of the 2004-2005 academic year, is the new home to the college's film, drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, printmaking, and art history programs, which have been growing in popularity but had been scattered about the campus.

The college wanted a sleek building that blended with the existing topography and with the smaller 1920s Tudor-style buildings nearby. It also demanded that the construction have as little impact as possible, seeking minimal damage to existing trees and few disruptions to the surrounding campus and neighborhood.

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The project team, led by Polshek Partnership Architects and F.J. Sciame Construction, both of New York City, met its share of challenges in building the $20 million center. The structure is surrounded by trees at the top of a hill. That location allowed nearly half of the building to be underground but still exposed to natural light, a key to fulfilling the college's desire to have the center qualify for LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Other green features include eight geothermal wells, each about 1,500 ft. deep, which help to cool and heat the building. The structure's assortment of windows, skylights, and open spaces between floors all maximize sunlight inside and minimize the need for artificial lighting by day. The terraced grass on the large, south-facing rooftop has become a popular gathering place that also helps cool the building.

Putting parts of the center underground called for blasting and drilling. The project team had to coordinate those activities around the schedules of the college and the lives of nearby residents. The team ended up using some of the quarried rocks in the new building itself, while breaking others into gravel.

The designers chose stone, glass, zinc, and cedar as primary materials that would allow the building to better blend in with the rest of the campus. Covering part of the center's exterior in stone - zinc and fieldstone line the rear façade - continued the college's tradition of using local stone in its buildings.

The team also pruned trees at the edge of the site, carefully monitoring them during construction. College officials had also asked the contractors to not harm a fully mature beech tree near the site, which translated into on-the-fly changes to the site plans. The footprint of the building now takes a jog to avoid the beech.

The architects and contractor worked closely throughout the project, meeting at least twice a week, but their overall schedule was tight. The college had awarded contracts in about a four-week period, and mobilization began almost immediately. One challenge was the need to pour concrete during the winter in order to keep the schedule. The team built flexibility into the schedule to allow concrete pouring to take place on milder days.

In the end, the team met the schedule, saved the beech tree, and gave Sarah Lawrence College its new arts center, complete with numerous studios, seminar rooms, a café, and a 200-seat auditorium.