The architectural firm Foster + Partners, led by Chairman Norman Foster, has been selected to design the new Yale School of Management campus, Yale President Richard C. Levin has announced.
The new campus will be located on a 4.25-acre site on the east side of Whitney Avenue at the Sachem Street intersection. Construction of the 230,000-square-foot building, which is more than double the current Yale School of Management footprint of approximately 110,000 square feet, is expected to be completed by the fall of 2011.
"The genius of Lord Norman Foster is evident in urban landscapes around the world, from the Hearst Tower in New York to the airport in Beijing. We are honored that an architect of his creativity and breadth will leave a lasting legacy on the Yale campus and we are confident that in its new home, the Yale School of Management will continue to attract and educate leaders of business and society for generations to come," said President Levin.
The new complex will house state-of-the-art classrooms, faculty offices, the School's academic centers and student and community spaces. The increased size of the campus will enable the school to expand the student body to approximately 300 students in each class; increase the size of the faculty; offer more in the way of community facilities; and make possible the expansion of the School's executive program offerings.
The design will be site-specific and sensitive to the surrounding neighborhood. Plans are to pursue LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System) certification for the new construction.
"Great institutions of enduring impact invariably have physical homes of notable architectural significance. As so many buildings on Yale's campus demonstrate, architecture has the power to inspire and to reinforce the loftiest of aspirations. Over the last few years, the school has been singularly focused on developing a distinct model of leadership and management education. So it is incredibly gratifying that we have been able to secure the support and enthusiasm of President Levin, the Yale Corporation and the broader Yale University community as well as enlist the visionary talent of Lord Foster and his associates to create a campus that will be the physical manifestation of our high aspirations for the Yale School of Management," said SOM Dean Joel Podolny.
Foster + Partners was selected by Yale following an international competition for the project. Foster + Partners is an architectural and product design firm with over 1,000 employees. Headquartered in London, the firm is led by Chairman Norman Foster (Lord Foster of Thames Bank), a 1962 graduate of the Yale School of Architecture and the 1999 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, given annually to "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture."
"I consider my time at Yale to have been a key formative period in my development as an architect. It is an honour to be able to work once again in this context, and to contribute to Yale University's continuing tradition of excellence and innovation," commented Foster.
Recent Foster + Partners projects include the new Wembley Stadium (completed 2007); plans for a zero carbon, zero waste city in Abu Dhabi as part of the Masdar Initiative; the Beijing Airport, which received Conde Nast Traveller's "Innovation and Design" award in April, 2007; the Hearst Tower, New York City's first Gold LEED certified office building, and the recipient of Emporis's "Best New Skyscraper" award, from a field of 467 eligible buildings worldwide completed in 2006; the Millennium Bridge in London, opened in 2000 (the first new Thames crossing since the Tower Bridge was constructed in 1894) and the Millau Viaduct in the south of France.
In the educational and cultural arena, Foster + Partners has completed numerous commissions, including the Clark Center at Stanford University (2003); the Free University in Berlin (2005); the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (1999 - ongoing); and the Great Court at the British Museum in London (2000). Gruzen Samton Architects of New York will team with Foster + Partners as the Architect of Record for the Yale School of Management.