Page 46 - Winter_2018

ArchDC Winter 2018.qxp_Winter 2018 11/27/18 9:36 AM Page 44

Schools
Schools

of Thought
of Thought The Yuma Building of the American University Washington
Photos © Chuck Choi Photographer

College of Law, as seen from the central courtyard.

Outstanding Design for Academic Projects

by Deane Madsen, Assoc. AIA

Award for Excellence in Architecture 1839. The architectural team from SmithGroup carefully preserved
the historic character of this modest campus—designated a DC
American University landmark in 2011—while converting it into a modern law school.
Washington College of Law Capital Hall’s refurbishment was limited mainly to interiors,
Washington, DC and the building now largely houses administrative offices. The
chapel, which retains its stained glass windows and groin-vaulted
ceiling, has been reinvented as the 60-seat Weinstein Courtroom,
SmithGroup with a pair of mock trial classrooms beneath the former worship
Lighting Designers: MCLA Architectural Lighting Design space. A bright atrium, with vertical glazing on its northwest wall
Structural Engineers: A+F Engineers and skylights above, links these two buildings, and reclaims the
Civil Engineers: Wiles Mensch Corporation former chapel exterior as one wall of the circulation space.
Food Service Consultants: Ricca Newmark Design Framing the axial allée are the Warren and Yuma Buildings,
Acoustical Consultants: Acoustical Design Collaborative two newly built structures that meet underground in a day-lit
Cost Estimators: TCT Cost Consultants social commons area. The two buildings, which expand upon
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company existing footprints of structures that previously occupied the site,
house separate academic functions. The Warren Building, to the
Atop the second-highest peak in Washington, DC, a new campus south, is focused on research and technology, while the Yuma
for American University’s Washington College of Law (AUWCL) Building, to the north, centers around academics. The Warren
opened in 2016. Comprising two buildings connected by an under- Building hosts AUWCL’s Pence Law Library, accommodating
ground commons, and a third containing a chapel reincarnated as stacks and 847 seats, and a ceremonial classroom overlooking
a teaching courtroom, the cluster of buildings gathers AU’s law Warren Street at its southernmost edge.
program onto a single, satellite campus of 312,000 square feet upon The Yuma Building contains reconfigurable classroom spaces
eight and a half acres within a National Register Historic District. along with faculty offices on the upper floors. A 500-seat function
The trio of buildings is anchored by Capital Hall, a 1904 hall is embedded on the lower levels, and a dining hall overlooks
building between the Yuma Street and Nebraska Avenue spokes the new landscaping that begins at Dunblane House, continues
radiating from Tenley Circle. Capital Hall gained a chapel in 1921, over the sky-lit underground connection, and cascades down a
and from these two historic structures, a landscaped walkway terraced walkway beside the main entrance at the Warren Building.
forms an axial connection extending to Dunblane House, built in In both buildings, niches carved out of hallways offer opportunities

44 SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT