Ainsworth Hall: College of Liberal Arts

Norwich University, Northfield, VT

Our original task for Ainsworth Hall was to reprogram interior spaces—a collection of offices and classrooms whose distribution, scale and adjacencies no longer met the needs of the university—and to provide general cosmetic improvements throughout. Our solution achieves these goals by leaving as many interior partitions as possible in place, retaining and matching the historic detailing that gives the building its character, and consolidating building services into a single service core. We also addressed exterior improvements to the building’s overall massing by proposing a second story addition above an existing building wing that dates from the 1950s. This single story, boxy wing was at odds with the main volume of the building, a historically important Victorian structure that was one of the first buildings in the town of Northfield. Adding a second story capped with dormers improves the proportions of the overall structure, and allows the school to capture much-needed additional faculty office space.