Case Study Video Transcript
Nick Christy, Lehigh Associate Director for Student Involvement and Student Center Operations: We're building a space now for the future students of Lehigh. How do you do that? How do you create something for a student that you don't know what they're going to need or what they're going to want?
The Lehigh Valley, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is 90 minutes from New York, 90 minutes from Philly. You're two hours from the shore, the beach, and it just is an amazing chance for students who want to have an experience on campus, but also want to explore different high traffic areas.
Jim LaRose, Lead Project Manager, Lehigh Facilities: The Clayton University Center, it was originally called Packer Hall, was the first structure built on Lehigh's new campus. In 1863 to 1868, at that point, it functioned as basically the entire administrative function of the campus. So, people lived here, they ate here, they took classes here. It was kind of the original campus crossroads.
The building changed dramatically over the years. As Lehigh grew, this building grew and changed in response to the campus environment. This was expanded and renovated numerous times throughout the years. The largest renovation and expansion was in the 1950s, when Bethlehem Steel essentially added an entire additional building on the back of the original structure, and then gutted all the interior at that time and really brought the structure up to what was current for the 1950s.
In planning for the renovation, we did a number of focus groups with staff, students, and other interested parties.
Christy: Truly trying to understand, one, the benefits of the current building and what they were looking for in the future.
LaRose: We found that people love the traditional character of the building, but wanted to bring the building technologically and in other ways up to the 21st century.
Bob Mohr, Principal, Shepley Bulfinch: One of the main goals in the project was decluttering the building. It was a building that was built in the 19th century, added onto in the 1950s, and then sat for a lot of years, and the only renovations that happened were periodic improvements to dining spaces and little bits and pieces here and there. So, it was really a building that was in need of life being breathed into it.
LaRose: We really wanted to preserve the historical elements that had the most impact. So, part of that was stone facades, the slate roof, the quintessential character of the building, the arches, and different elements inside, stained glass windows in the Great Room and a few other elements like that.
Christy: The lighting in the building was very dark. There were rooms where very little light got in, and also just the window treatments along with the windows themselves kind of provided almost like a film, so it didn't allow the true potential of light to come through, so you kind of felt like it was very closed in.
Mohr: It's a fundamental priority of a building like this to improve daylight. It's important for human health and wellness. In the 1950s, they put in the best windows they could, and those over time had storm pans added to them. They were operable windows because there was no air conditioning at the time. Part of what we could do is by adding modern systems to the building, we could add windows that were bringing in much more light than they could have before.
LaRose: Marvin was selected to be the window provider on the project. It was based on quality, responsiveness, cost, being able to adhere to a schedule, as well as just the reputation and the engineering.
The historic aspect of the building presented many challenges. Specifically, in regards to windows, we had to work within existing openings. The openings were different in character because of the masonry construction. We had to develop a series of templates that Marvin could then go and engineer off of.
Mohr: There's over 200 windows and a lot of different types, so when you look at it from a distance, you see all kinds of different windows, and so it gives the effective diversity like this being a kind of old building that might have evolved over time and just has a scale and density. That's really nice.
Dave Aquadro, Architectural Project Manager, Marvin: One of the really unique abilities of the Marvin Ultimate line is to be able to do rather large expanses of glass, but the flexibility of being able to do that and have a casing applied that could speak to the historic nature. You just have to marvel with the detailing and you realize that these windows gotta be original. They don't look like they were replaced. That's the beauty of the Ultimate line.
Christy: With the new windows, with the new lighting, you feel energized by just walking in the building, by feeling the light, by feeling this new presence within the building.
LaRose: We knew that windows were gonna be one of the most critical pieces of this renovation. It's something you have to get right, and it's the first thing everyone sees when they look at the building. So there was really no margin for error here.
Aquadro: Marvin knocked it out of the park on this one. They rose to the occasion in a way that Lehigh was really incredibly impressed and pleased with.
For more about the process and the project, visit “Transforming a Campus Crossroads.”
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