As campuses embrace a multitude of changing trends and expectations, incorporating them all into renovations in an integrated way brings great challenges. Syracuse University faced this challenge as they approached the substantial renovation of their campus center. The Schine Student Center’s original opening in 1985 was the answer to a question 75 years in the making: How to create the perfect place for students to come together, which traces back to a 1911 Daily Orange editorial demanding a student center be built. Prior to 1985, there had simply been nothing like it on campus.

After three decades of service, Schine had lost relevancy and vigor. It faced significant hurdles: confusing circulation; hard-to-find student support program spaces; outdated dining model; and poor accommodation of those with differing abilities and backgrounds. The building was closed off, convoluted, and opaque. The brick and center stair actually discouraged exploring the building.

A feasibility plan focused on engaging students to define what would make the existing Schine Student Center a more student-centered environment. With more than 1,500 individual points of input over three months, several qualities described what was missing in Schine:
• Authentic - a memorable destination celebrating the essence of the university
• Inviting - a welcoming and vibrant crossroads encouraging lingering throughout the day
• Variety - flexible environments supporting activities for groups and individuals
• Connective - daylight, openness fostering wayfinding, belonging and well-being

The 108,000 SF renovation provided a welcoming hub enabling easy connection with resources and activities. Schine’s transformation embodies the nexus of three design principles: 1) Universal Design, 2) Student-Centered Design, and 3) Design for Diversity and Inclusion.

Embracing these principles, Schine has been transformed from transactional destination to an inclusive and vibrant campus living room. Exuding key principles of Universal Design, increased openness enables wayfinding and accessibility. Distributed throughout Schine, updated dining and gathering spaces support an abundant variety of needs and preferences.

Major surgery was completed on Schine’s atrium, replacing a tired pyramid skylight with a lantern-like clerestory providing views to the sky. Able to be seen from across campus, the clerestory’s lighting is dramatic and can be changed in color to reflect the spirit of the day.

Vertical and horizontal connectivity was increased by opening the existing atrium floor to the level below, providing an expanded space for clear prospect and refuge. A large media wall anchors this space with a focal point for gatherings, announcements or game day watch parties. A coffee shop was integrated into the space, animating the vibe. The atrium’s curving geometry creates unity as well as sense of belonging. As the center of the center, this spirited crossroads comes alive for lounging, conversations, and programming.

As food fosters community, dining was transfigured into a memorable destination offering seating options ranging from see-and-be seen to intimate nooks and crannies, including sought after “booth-bay boxes” which rotate out from the building’s exterior to frame views of campus’s iconic Hall of Languages. In short, there is a place for everyone. Dining offerings are rich and varied. An outdoor terrace will soon connect the warm and friendly interiors with pedestrian activity along the Einhorn Family Walk.

Flexible co-working-styled spaces provide an engaging setting showcasing resources, activities, and organizations, creating an irresistible invitation to get involved or to lead something new. The expanded atrium provides these centers with enhanced visibility endowing Schine’s visitor experience with a dash of serendipity—you can find things you didn’t even know you were looking for.

The spirit of openness was also extended to the exterior. Schine’s original design presented four brick-clad volumes to campus, one of which was stripped of its brick and replaced with glass and terra cotta fins. This exterior intervention creates views into and from Schine of the University’s new quad. The glass allows space to flow directly into Schine. The terra cotta fins loosely reflect the existing brick’s variegation while symbolizing Schine’s welcoming embrace of diversity and new ideas.

Prior to the renovation, vital student activities and resources were undersized, hard to find, or located elsewhere on campus. Improving student ability to discover these opportunities was important to increase engagement while advancing inclusion and equity. Student-facing services and student organization offices are prioritized and highly visible, along with a key grouping of cultural centers—the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Disability Cultural Center and the LGBTQ Resource Center—framed as the Intercultural Collective, which allows deeper, connected conversations around the many intersections of identities.

Accessibility was enhanced - The design team assessed where all of the entrances, elevators, and stairs were. It showed that there was no accessible path through the building and that navigating the building as someone in a wheelchair meant maneuvering all across the building just to make a simple floor change. Reorganizing these pathways by adding new elevators, different elevator stops, extending stairs, and other design intentions were the first moves to make the building more accessible -for everyone!

Other accessibility enhancements include having automatic openers on exterior public doors, smoothing floor transitions, incorporating accessible signage, installing universally accessible counter and work surface heights, providing fully accessible restrooms on each level, and upgrading elevators. Schine sits on an imposing slope of Syracuse’s hilltop campus. Overcoming this barrier, the renovation provides not just an accessible pathway but a campus gateway for all.