First published 2018
Robert A.M. Stern Architects faces the challenge of creating two new residential colleges at Yale University after a fifty-year gap in construction. The firm must design buildings that honor Yale's architectural identity while meeting modern standards for student life and environmental responsibility. Each college will house 450 students and include dining halls, libraries, and head of college residences. The architects draw inspiration from James Gamble Rogers' 1930s Collegiate Gothic designs while incorporating contemporary needs. The project connects Yale's humanities and sciences districts and bridges the university with surrounding New Haven neighborhoods. Stern's team navigates the complex balance between respecting historical precedent and addressing current residential requirements. The book documents their design process through original drawings, models, material samples, and photographs of the finished buildings. The project represents both a continuation of Yale's residential college tradition, modeled after Oxford and Cambridge, and an evolution toward twenty-first-century campus life.
Genres: history, education, 21st-century, art-history, design, architecture, academia, academic
Vibes: educational, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction, world-building
Setting: New Haven, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale University
Period: 1930s, 21st-century
336 pages · Hardcover · The Monacelli Press