Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis has grown significantly since its founding in 1917, and since 1980, the numbers of undergraduate and graduate business students have both more than doubled. Two donors provided funds to add capacity to the school’s existing buildings, Simon Hall and the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center. The $90 million project adds two new structures totaling 175,000 square feet, united by a soaring glass atrium.
Danforth Campus, Washington University’s main campus, was designed by Cope and Stewardson in the Collegiate Gothic style and began construction in 1900. Nineteen of its existing buildings are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and are known collectively as the Danforth Campus Historic District. Because the business school is located in this historic core, MRY designed Knight Hall and Bauer Hall to complement the Gothic Revival structures in a crisp, contemporary way while introducing plenty of daylight and transparency.
Constructed adjacent to the Knight Center, Knight Hall and Bauer Hall nearly double the business school’s footprint. They occupy the former site of Eliot Hall, a Brutalist-style structure from the 1970s that was one of the few buildings on campus not built in the Gothic Revival style.
Because there were two donors, the buildings had to read as separate edifices while operating as one. As a result, each has its own grand entryway and distinctive form, while the atrium links the two functionally. Although two of the buildings’ levels are largely underground, there are always views to daylight. Manipulating the grade on one side of the building enabled the introduction of outdoor terraces.
The two-story naturally ventilated atrium was designed to serve as a dynamic social hub, with tables and seating scattered throughout and active uses placed around the atrium on every level. A generously sized central staircase encourages interaction, provides views diagonally up and down to other floors, and brings daylight to the lower level. The project is targeting LEED Gold.
Prime and Design Architect: Moore Ruble Yudell
Associate Architect: Mackey Mitchell Architects
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