The campus-center project at Lawrence U. included a bridge, seen in the foreground, that links two sides of the campus. (Lawrence U. photo)

A $35-million, 107,000-square-foot campus center that was nearly two decades in the planning opened this month at Lawrence University. In addition to offering a variety of social spaces for students, the multilevel project adds a land bridge over South Lawe Street, which crosses the campus. The bridge is intended to help the university expand to the east.

The glassy building is called the Richard and Margot Warch Campus Center. It has dining facilities, offices for student organizations, a 134-seat cinema, and a variety of multi-use spaces that can accommodate up to 500 people. Besides opening up the east side of the campus, the building was designed to celebrate the Fox River, of which it offers expansive views. Many older campus...

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Purdue U. has dedicated the Niswonger Aviation Technology Building at the university airport. (Purdue U. image)

• Expanded, Soundproofed Aviation-Technology Building Debuts at Purdue U. Airport

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Previous Post: Architecture Students Design a New Sukkah for Wesleyan U. | Buildings & Grounds Main Page

Wesleyan U. students designed this sukkah for use on the campus. (Wesleyan U. photo)

As a studio project, 15 architecture students at Wesleyan University designed a new sukkah that members of the university's Jewish community will dedicate on October 3. A sukkah, a ritual structure erected each year for use during the eight-day celebration of Sukkot, recalls the nomadic huts used during the Israelites' 40-year journey from Egypt to Canaan.

According to Jewish law, a sukkah must be located where it is open to the sky, and stars must be visible through its roof, which must be made of material cut from the earth. Observant Jews pray, eat, socialize, and sometimes sleep in the structures.

Working with Elijah Huge, an assistant professor of art, the students began by collecting information and meeting with the university's Jewish chaplain, Rabbi David Leipziger Teva. Teams of...

Marquette U. will break ground next year for this engineering building, designed by Opus North.

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Previous Post: Little House at Alfred U. Teaches About Sustainability | Buildings & Grounds Main Page

Ann Holley's 125-square-foot house makes a statement about living on less. (Photograph courtesy Alfred U.)

Ann Holley, a graduate student in sculpture at Alfred University, arrived at the university this year with her own living quarters: ProtoHaus, a tiny house that she designed with her husband, Darren Macca, an industrial designer. The house, which was constructed in seven weeks over the summer, is about 22 feet by 8 feet and is set on a trailer for mobility.

"I spent most of the spring semester working on the plans and a proposal to the university to allow me to bring the house and park it here on campus," Ms. Holley says. She says the university gave her a "great spot" on the campus at the edge of a residential neighborhood.

Ms. Holley says her work in sculpture strives to start conversations among people, and ProtoHaus is no exception. Built with natural and recycled...

Polshek Partnership Architects has designed this Business Leadership Building for the U. of North Texas. (U. of North Texas image)

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• U. of North Texas Unveils Design for Business Building

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• New Northern Arizona U. Dorm Gets Green Light

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• U. of Massachusetts at Lowell Converts a Hotel into a Residence Hall and Conference Center

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Previous Post: At Davis & Elkins, 2 Mansions Help Define the Past | Buildings & Grounds Main Page

Graceland is now an inn at Davis & Elkins College. (Chronicle photographs by Scott Carlson)

Elkins, W.Va. — Davis & Elkins College is a small institution in the hills of West Virginia, but its two historic mansions convey a world-class wealth rarely seen, either in West Virginia or anywhere else. The mansions — Graceland and Halliehurst — were built in the late 1800s as summer homes for two statesmen who were also coal and lumber barons and college founders, Henry Gassaway Davis and his son-in-law, Stephen B. Elkins. The Victorian castles are named for Davis's daughters. Both buildings are National Historic Landmarks.

Graceland's interior is a paradise of fine woodwork.

With their fine stained-glass windows and intricately carved woodwork in birds-eye maple, cherry, walnut, and oak, the homes can render a visitor speechless — carved wood is everywhere,...

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