Whitmore Hall Student Services Study

UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA

Jones worked with UMass Amherst to evaluate the existing Whitmore Hall, a Brutalist-era 1960's concrete structure housing administrative and student services program. This study was divided into two phases.

First, we looked at opportunities for the existing building, and considered near-term, actionable project recommendations. In terms of programming, the goal of this phase was to create greater clarity by stratifying the building in section with student-facing services at the ground floor, administrative spaces at the third floor, and the associated support spaces at the middle floor. Today these functions are commingled on each floor, creating confusion and wayfinding challenges. This phase also captured existing conditions, code compliance concerns, deferred maintenance, energy use reduction, and other aspects of the existing building.

In the second phase, we sought longer-term, more vision-based, conceptual solutions inside and outside Whitmore Hall and the district landscape of Haigis Mall. The overarching goal was to make the building more approachable and welcoming. This portion of the study included expansion possibilities to Whitmore, as well as a comprehensive look at the site challenges and opportunities immediately surrounding Whitmore and more broadly in the Haigis Mall district.

We presented more about this project at the SCUP 2022 North Atlantic Regional Conference hosted by UMass-Amherst. You can read about this session, Brutal Honesty about Student Services at UMass-Amherst, given by Rick Jones (Jones Architecture), Naomi Cottrell (Crowley Cottrell), and Jeff Dalzell (project manager, UMass-Amherst Office of Planning).