Winter Building is located on the border of Buchanan Park and the Franklin and Marshall College campus (meaning Bendjmin Franklin: he allocated funds for the foundation of the college in the late 18th century) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the "old" northeastern United States.
The bulk of the university buildings are brick buildings of the mid-19th century, but many trees are older, 200 years old. To preserve them, Stephen Hall designed a new building - for the faculties of arts, cinema and art history - with flowing arched "gaps": this is how architecture gives way to nature. This soft curvature is supported in the interior by wooden beams supported by curved metal pipes, which are supported by trusses hidden in the walls.
As always with Hall, natural light plays a central role in the project. Even in the basement floor, given to media artists who do not need the sun, the rays fall through the openings in the ceilings. They penetrate into the rest of the spaces through facades made of U-plank type structural glass panels: they are installed in two layers with transparent insulation between them. Thus, it was possible to achieve high thermal insulation with optimal diffuse light penetration for art workshops. Its abundance allows you to save electricity, opening windows serve the same purposes: special panels remind students and teachers that it is necessary to dissolve the window, where information about the weather from sensors is supplied.
The project claims a LEED Gold certification thanks to the facade described above and preserved trees, the use of local materials (including wood and plywood, which are fully eco-standard), increased safety requirements for all materials, a highly efficient water-based radiant heating and cooling system embedded in concrete floor slabs. A mirrored reservoir nearby serves to drain rainwater.
The structure of the building up to and including the first floor is monolithic concrete, above it is a metal frame.
The ground floor houses future photographers, filmmakers and video artists, while the ground floor houses the public space (forum) and exhibition halls: they connect the new building with the city and its inhabitants. There are also spaces for sculptors, who often work with heavy materials and works: at ground level, they are easier to load and unload from workshops.
On the mezzanine tier there are teachers' workshops, seminar rooms for art critics, and a balcony "among the trees". On the second floor there are drawing, painting, woodcarving, engraving and design studios, as well as a cinema. In addition, the levels integrate commons for students - common spaces around the atrium with a staircase.
