The University of Cincinnati’s recently completed Clifton Court Hall unifies the school’s social science programs into a multidisciplinary research and education facility. The 185,400-sf structure is the university’s largest classroom building, serving its largest college, the College of Arts and Sciences.
Designed by LMN Architects in collaboration with KZF Design, the 185,400-sf, five-floor building unites academic units from various buildings across campus to create a new home for the College of Arts and Sciences. It brings together six departments, including faculty workspace, specialized lab spaces, administrative offices, classrooms, and a central social hub. The new building also acts as an arrival nexus that links the College to the campus core and the adjacent city neighborhood.
As a hub for student collaboration and learning, the building offers over 1,000 classroom seats in flexible flat-floor classrooms, seminar rooms, and a collaborative auditorium. The building also provides study, lab, and social spaces to support non-classroom learning. On the exterior, the terracotta-paneled façade complements the red brick of the prominent campus buildings.
Clifton Court Hall’s central, five-story atrium is infused with daylight from skylights and large north- and south-facing windows, which visually connect the building with the surrounding campus. The atrium serves as a hub for the College, fostering academic and social exchange in community and collaboration spaces and adjacent team rooms. A sculptural red stairway extends three stories diagonally through the atrium.
“The College of Arts & Sciences delivers curriculum to every student on the University of Cincinnati campus,” Susan Lowance, Principal, LMN Architects, said in a statement. “Every student will spend time here learning, researching, and engaging with the outside community, which makes it a building for the whole campus.”
On the Building Team:
Design architect: LMN Architects
Architect of record: KZF Design
Structural and civil engineer and MEP designer: Buro Happold
MEP engineer: IMEG Corp.
Landscape architect: MKSK
General contractor: Messer Construction
Related Stories
| Jun 12, 2014
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects' design selected for new UCSC facility
The planned site is a natural landscape among redwood trees with views over Monterey Bay, a site that the architects have called “one of the most beautiful they have ever worked on.”
| Jun 12, 2014
Austrian university develops 'inflatable' concrete dome method
Constructing a concrete dome is a costly process, but this may change soon. A team from the Vienna University of Technology has developed a method that allows concrete domes to form with the use of air and steel cables instead of expensive, timber supporting structures.
| Jun 11, 2014
5 ways Herman Miller's new office concept rethinks the traditional workplace
Today's technologies allow us to work anywhere. So why come to an office at all? Herman Miller has an answer.
| Jun 9, 2014
6 design strategies for integrating living and learning on campus
Higher education is rapidly evolving. As we use planning and design to help our clients navigate major shifts in culture, technology, and funding, it is essential to focus on strategies that help foster an education that is relevant after graduation. One way to promote relevance is to strengthen the bond between academic disciplines and the campus residential life experience.
| May 29, 2014
7 cost-effective ways to make U.S. infrastructure more resilient
Moving critical elements to higher ground and designing for longer lifespans are just some of the ways cities and governments can make infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters and climate change, writes Richard Cavallaro, President of Skanska USA Civil.
Sponsored | | May 27, 2014
Grim Hall opens the door to fire safety with fire-rated ceramic glass
For the renovation of Lincoln University’s Grim Hall life sciences building into a state-of-the-art computer facility, Tevebaugh Associates worked to provide students and faculty with improved life safety protection. Updating the 1925-era facility's fire-rated doors was an important component of the project.
| May 20, 2014
Kinetic Architecture: New book explores innovations in active façades
The book, co-authored by Arup's Russell Fortmeyer, illustrates the various ways architects, consultants, and engineers approach energy and comfort by manipulating air, water, and light through the layers of passive and active building envelope systems.
| May 19, 2014
What can architects learn from nature’s 3.8 billion years of experience?
In a new report, HOK and Biomimicry 3.8 partnered to study how lessons from the temperate broadleaf forest biome, which houses many of the world’s largest population centers, can inform the design of the built environment.
| May 13, 2014
19 industry groups team to promote resilient planning and building materials
The industry associations, with more than 700,000 members generating almost $1 trillion in GDP, have issued a joint statement on resilience, pushing design and building solutions for disaster mitigation.
| May 11, 2014
Final call for entries: 2014 Giants 300 survey
BD+C's 2014 Giants 300 survey forms are due Wednesday, May 21. Survey results will be published in our July 2014 issue. The annual Giants 300 Report ranks the top AEC firms in commercial construction, by revenue.
