Colin-Flug Center
Worcester, MAThe Clark University Colin-Flug graduate student study center is a free standing new building adjacent to the existing Victorian era Cohen-Lasry house and the contemporary Rose Library addition. The Colin Flug wing reframes the two existing structures to create a larger unified composition of building and landscape for the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide studies. The new building visually extends elements of the existing structures to form the new wing and define interior and exterior spaces that weave together the old and new buildings. The exterior material palette of cast concrete, zinc cladding and fiber cement panels articulate the parts of the building program and respond to the surrounding campus with a simple yet strong geometry.
The new building is composed of three interlocked forms that visually engage the existing Rose library addition and act as a simple contrast to the Cohen-Lasry house. One form composed of glass and concrete creates a courtyard between itself and the Rose Library and contains graduate student offices. A secondary low form that is largely opaque contains the service functions of the new building and integrates into the linear glass and concrete form. A taller zinc clad volume echos the form of the existing Rose Library and contains the main social space of the project.
The Colin Flug wing provides dedicated individual research space for graduate students along with a secure high density book storage area. In addition, a communal lounge space and ancillary support spaces allow the Strassler Center to better serve the graduate student population and provide the facilities needed to further its educational mission.
Design Partner
Julian Bonder
General Contractor
J. Calnan Associates
MEP/FP Engineering
Allied Consulting Engineers
Structural Engineering
Richmond So
Photography
Greg Premru