February 7, 2008
401-863-2476
The Old Brown, The New Brown Faunce House, dedicated in 1904 “for the social and religious uses of
Brown men,” will be redesigned by Schwartz/Silver Architects as the
Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, to open in 2010.
The Boston-based firm Schwartz/Silver Architects has been selected to
design Brown’s new Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center in Faunce House.
The center will reinvigorate the building, which opened in 1904, with
new areas for students to gather, study, eat, and socialize, and will
include improved office and meeting spaces. The project is currently
scheduled for completion in 2010.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The
Boston-based firm Schwartz/Silver Architects has been selected by the
Corporation Committee on Facilities and Design to design Brown’s
Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center. The $15-million project will renovate
Faunce House in honor of former Chancellor Stephen Robert. The center is currently
scheduled for completion in 2010.
Robert provided the lead gift for the project. Three anonymous
donors provided additional gifts in support of the center’s creation.
“It is an honor to have my name on this historic building
at Brown – one that has served as the symbolic heart of campus for so many
years,” said Robert, a 1962 Brown graduate and University chancellor from
1998-2007. “It is my ultimate vision for the Campus Center to foster a
shared sense of community at the University and provide students with an
inviting space where they can enjoy the Brown experience outside of the
classroom.”
The center will add significantly to the quality of education
and student life at Brown by bringing undergraduate students from many parts of
the campus together with graduate and medical students, faculty, staff, and
others in informal settings and programs. Preliminary plans for renovating the
building, which opened in 1904, include a new food venue, space for a variety of student
organizations, informal gathering areas, and meeting spaces that will foster
interaction and collaboration by reorganizing the existing spaces; and upgrading
the building systems to today’s standards.
Community input into the pre-design phase this semester will be
collected from appropriate standing committees, general community forums, and an
advisory committee of students, faculty and staff.
Schwartz/Silver Architects
Founded in 1980, Schwartz/Silver Architects
is a firm with a diverse and site-specific body of work. It has a
national reputation in the design community, with its projects
regularly earning top awards, including six AIA National Honor Awards.
The firm practices in two main categories: renovations of historically
significant older buildings and modern new construction. Whether the
firm is working on an innovative and technologically advanced new
building or transforming a historic structure by Charles Bulfinch, H.H.
Richardson or Stanford White, the design method remains the same.
Schwartz/Silver believes the best architecture results from a diligent
and thoughtful working with the particular circumstances of a project
and the human needs they reflect.
Schwartz/Silver Architects’ educational clients include
Brown University, Cornell University, Princeton University, Trinity
College, The University of Virginia, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and Louisiana State University.
Editors: Brown University has a fiber link television studio available for domestic and international live and taped interviews, and maintains an ISDN line for radio interviews. For more information, call (401) 863-2476.