Lafayette Hall at Housatonic Community College

Bridgeport, CT, United States

Add To Collection

Other Projects by Amenta Emma Architects

Add To Collection

Quinnipiac University Admissions Center

Add To Collection

Applied Innovation Hub at Central Connecticut State University

Add To Collection

165 Capitol Avenue - Connecticut State Office Building

Add To Collection

Quinnipiac University Brand Strategy Group

Add To Collection

Lafayette Hall at Housatonic Community College

Bridgeport, CT, United States

Firm

Amenta Emma Architects

Type

Educational › University

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2017

SIZE

25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft

BUDGET

$10M - 50M

Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, CT, understands the importance of first impressions with a significant renovation and addition to its main academic and administrative building, Lafayette Hall. Once an aging shopping mall with no clear front door, the college has a proud new persona in downtown Bridgeport, radically changing its relationship to the street, its place in the city’s urban fabric, and its organization of key public spaces for prospective students, the existing academic community and the City at large. Everyone is invited in.
The overall program required increased instructional, multi-purpose and common spaces, the reorganization of existing student enrollment services and administrative departments, and the expansion and enhancement to the library. It was a tight urban site, and an additional challenge was that the facility needed to maintain continuous operation. As a community college, the client’s primary mission is to provide educational opportunities to all members of the diverse community it serves without restrictions or barriers. In response, designers developed a bold design solution for a new 40,000 gsf addition adjacent to a seamlessly connected renovation.
An admissions and information “Welcome Center,” with related student enrollment spaces, is located along a light-filled public concourse or “Main Street” off a new entrance lobby. The space also serves as the primary access point to the College’s renowned public art museum and provides a backdrop for showcasing gems from its collection, which include works by Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, Miro Chagall, Rodin, Klimt and Rauchenburg. The gallery-like main concourse features white terrazzo flooring throughout and blue glazing at entrances to main student spaces. Upper floors of the addition contain studio and digital art instructional spaces and general-purpose classrooms. Spaces are finished with polished concrete floors, exposed ceilings and strategically placed accent colors. Furniture provides bold and timeless punches of color against an overall neural palette washed in natural light. Throughout the interior, views back to the city highlight the importance of the project’s urban context and its relationship to the community it serves.
A new landscaped courtyard creates an intimate campus outdoor social space, and student lounges throughout the addition encourage community interaction and collaboration. Wrapped with a transparent glazed skin that reaches out to the city, the building encourages engagement from both inside and out.
Certfied LEED Silver (Addition)