Wellesley
Campus Center Awarded 2006 Harleston Parker Medal
Boston Society of
Architects Says Building “Evokes Both Wonder
and Delight"
| For
immediate release: Dec. 20, 2006 |
WELLESLEY,
Mass. – The Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center has been awarded
the 2006 Harleston Parker Medal by the Boston Society of Architects
(BSA), which annually recognizes "the most beautiful piece
of architecture, building, monument, or structure" built within
the past 10 years in the Greater Boston area. "We are delighted
that the Wang Campus Center has received this honor,” said President
Diana Chapman Walsh. “In the 18 months
since it opened, ‘the Lulu’ – as it is affectionately
called – has become a lively and popular hub for our diverse
campus community.”
The 10-member jury of architects and design professionals unanimously
selected the Wang Center, which was designed by Mack Scoggin Merrill
Elam Architects of Atlanta, from among 150 nominated projects. In its
commendation of the building, the jury wrote:
"The
new building literally floats on the site, raised above a sloping landscape
and integrated into the campus pedestrian circulation
by sweeping bridges. Interior spaces are clustered on several levels,
defining the interior circulation as the in-between space and resisting
any effort to contain the building within a rectilinear shell. …The
many different internal spaces offer both warmth and hominess as well
as breathtaking views of the adjacent wetland valley and woodlands
and the more distant lake. Both interior and exterior details are clearly
conceived and carefully executed to be coherent in the total composition
and pleasantly tactile and elegant in the foreground. …the jury
recognized that this building has the characteristics that evoke both
wonder and delight in those who walk through or around it, and it is
for this transcendent quality that the jury recommends this building
for the 2006 Harleston Parker Medal.”
The 50,000 square-foot Wang Campus Center houses a variety of lounges
and informal gathering areas, meeting rooms, a post office, student mailboxes,
a coffee shop, three dining venues, a convenience store, campus pub,
bookstore, and a large multi-purpose space. Built in conjunction with
the restoration of a valley beside Lake Waban, the four-story building
provides striking sight lines and views of the campus. Alumnae Valley
was recently honored by the American Society of Landscape Architects
with its 2006 Award for Excellence in the general design category.
The
campus center is named for Lulu Chow Wang, a Wellesley trustee and
investment professional from the Class of 1966, who, with her husband,
was the largest donor to the building. Richard White Sons of Newton,
Mass., was the construction manager for the project. Genesis Planners
of Waltham, Mass., provided project management. Patricia Bryne, vice
president for administration and planning, led the project planning and
execution over a six-year period.
The Wang Center is the third building on the Wellesley campus to receive
the Harleston Parker Medal. The Davis Museum and Cultural Center was
honored in 2000 and the Science Center in 1988.
Committed to educating women since its founding in 1870, Wellesley College
has long been recognized as one of the finest liberal arts colleges in
the country. Its 500-acre campus near Boston is home to 2,300 undergraduate
students from all 50 states and 68 countries.