Friend Center for Engineering Education, Princeton University
The Friend Center provides the spatial and functional framework to stimulate creative speculation, social interaction, and intellectual collaboration through a reinterpretation of the traditions of the academic quadrangle.
Situated across the street from the existing Engineering Quadrangle, the four-story facility connects at ground and lower levels with an existing computer science building on the north and projects west to house the engineering library in an independent two-story volume. Learning spaces throughout the center offer an array of formal and informal classroom configurations. The facility also includes a state-of-the-art computer atelier, a 250-seat lecture hall, and offices and classrooms for the engineering department.
Show Facts
Site
West of the existing Engineering Quadrangle at the intersection of William and Olden Streets
Components
70,000 ft2 / 7,000 m2 gross area; engineering library, computer atelier, lecture hall, offices, classrooms, extensive landscaping
Client
Princeton University Office of Physical Planning
PCF&P Services
Campus planning, architecture; exterior envelope; interior design
Awards
Platinum Award for Engineering Excellence
New York Association of Consulting Engineers, 2002
Honorable Mention
American Concrete Institute, New Jersey Chapter, 2002
A new campus green weaves the Friend Center into its setting, with circulation paths converging at the main entrance. Flowering plants and bosques of trees create a colorful buffer to the adjacent residential neighborhood.
Site plan
The Friend Center’s limestone base matches that of the neighboring computer science building and complements the one-story context. The library above is clad in low-E clear insulating glass, with customized horizontal wood blinds that control natural lighting by day and activate the surroundings with a soft glow at night.
Study carrels, reading rooms, and smaller classrooms are located within the library’s glass-enclosed upper levels to meet the needs of small group seminars, study group sessions, and individual research.
Project Credits
Structural: Leslie E. Roberston Associates, New York; Mechanical / Electrical: Cosentini Associates, New York; Audio / Visual: Acentech Audio Visual, Boston, MA; Landscape: Michael Vergason & Associates, Arlington, VA; Images: Taylorphoto.com, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners