“Make no mistake: the Murray-Aikins Dining Hall on the campus of 3,0000-student Skidmore College, renovated last year to the tune of nearly $10 million is stunning."
Program
Renovation and expansion of an existing 28,000-sf building into a 40,000-sf community building including a new atrium, student lounge, retail café, retail convenience store, new conference center and banquet facility, administrative offices, new market style multi-restaurant dining server, central kitchen, central dock, new toilet facilities, new geothermal heating and cooling and exterior performance stage.
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Solution
Located at the heart of campus, the new Murray – Aikins Hall will serve as the visual centerpiece of the campus green as well as the focus of student community life on campus. The renovation transformed the modest single story structure into a multi-level complex of community oriented program spaces. Eight serving stations, designed in a circular pattern around the kitchen employs 42 separate colors in such a way as to subtly change the color scheme as you walk the perimeter of the server. The food quality and variety match the color, with virtually something for everyone, with many stations operating continuously for at least 9 hours a day. The architectural articulation of the program elements into a built form has created a new vision of how Skidmore College will meet the evolving needs and aspirations of student, faculty and alumni well into the future.
