By rethinking program, building systems and materials, the renovation of Davenport College demonstrates the evolution in collegiate living in the past 75 years. In this 1930s residential college on the Yale University campus, a formal dining hall that once served a seated all-male population of 253 has been transformed into an active self-service dining facility; a basement that was once cluttered with pipes, storage, massive foundation walls and squash courts now encompasses a myriad of community spaces including workshops, a café, laundry, basketball court, even a theater, all linked by ample passages that are washed by sunlight from above.
By rethinking program, building systems and materials, the renovation of Davenport College demonstrates the evolution in collegiate living in the past 75 years. In this 1930s residential college on the Yale University campus, a formal dining hall that once served a seated all-male population of 253 has been transformed into an active self-service dining facility; a basement that was once cluttered with pipes, storage, massive foundation walls and squash courts now encompasses a myriad of community spaces including workshops, a café, laundry, basketball court, even a theater, all linked by ample passages that are washed by sunlight from above.
Originally designed by James Gamble Rogers in 1930, Davenport College forms the western edge of Yale University's undergraduate residential campus. With five floors and a basement organized around a pair of courtyards, the college employs a Gothic vocabulary towards city streets, but an intimate Georgian vocabulary on the courtyard side. The program included basic student living and dining spaces, as well as residences for college fellows, the dean, and guests of the college.
The new architectural interventions begin a dialogue with the past. The old is uncovered, framed and revealed by new materials and forms. Building systems, finishes and roofs were surgically removed, just as the existing structure was preserved and restored. Contemporary systems were strategically woven back, so that in their fine scale, they highlight the grandeur of the original construction, and extend an architectural conversation across generations. This is most apparent in the basement, where long neglected back-of-house spaces are now reclaimed; this is also echoed throughout the building - for instance, a service access door is reclaimed and celebrated as a third building entry, in anticipation of a new university project currently under construction to the north.
The weaving of new into old required creative structural solutions, the most significant of which was the conversion of the narrow underground squash courts into a comfortable theater for seventy-two. A set of basement shear walls was removed to increase the footprint of the space, just as floor-to-ceiling trusses were inserted above. Similarly, in order to provide light, circulation and visual framing of what is beyond, openings were carefully inserted throughout the foundation walls and mediated by new steel beams and columns.
The use of materials both distinguishes and relates the old and the new. Existing masonry was sandblasted to showcase the quality of prewar materials and construction, which were never intended to be seen, but in their newfound revelation pay tribute to the hand of the mason. For new interventions, self-finishing materials were selected to maintain a constant dialogue with the old, whether it is the end-grained wood block and colored concrete of floors, or the exposed steel of columns and beams.
As a result, the experience of the renovated Davenport College is a reflective passage across time. It celebrates the provocative insertion of the new within the renovation and restoration of the old. In the course of daily life, a student passes through the stainless-steel and glass servery into the original wood-paneled dining hall; holds a slender contemporary railing in a robust stairwell; or chooses whether to relax in the underground café or in the renovated historic common room. With each passage, the student glances through precise openings in rugged stone walls to discover new passages and views, including easy access to the adjacent Pierson College. The unique program spaces of each college further promote the constant crossover and interaction of the students, activating not one but two historic residential colleges with vibrant contemporary programs and details.
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