Durkee, Brown, Viveiros and Werenfels Architects and Shawmut Design and Construction have completed the renovation of 198-200 Dyer St. in the new "Knowledge District." This project repurposed an existing building for use by Brown University's Department of Continuing Education (CE) as staff offices, program teaching classrooms, and lecture halls. The program is broken into two components. The 198 Dyer side of the building contains 13,000 s/f of administrative space and the 200 Dyer side of the building contains 9,000 s/f of educational program space.
The administrative portion of the building comprises private offices, conference rooms and breakout areas for the CE program faculty and staff. The educational space is designed to accommodate four seminar rooms, one large meeting seminar room and one smaller round table meeting room. The large meeting room and one of the four classrooms will have lecture capture capability to support the CE program's online learning content. There is also a studio for filming interviews and a control room for lecture capture and editing. The areas surrounding these classrooms contain lounge and café style breakout areas where participants in the CE program and CE faculty and staff can informally meet. Bold colors and sophisticated furniture enliven the space.
"Our goal was to design an exciting, professional environment that would allow the University to take their Department of Continuing Education to the next level" said Michael Viveiros, a principal at Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels Architects. "Brown University needed a sophisticated environment to attract national and international talent, and I think we achieved that with this space".
"DBVW Architects created a new facility for Continuing Education that is very functional, light-filled and beautifully designed, and is a pleasure to work in," said Karen Sibley, dean of continuing education at Brown University. "Early on, they took the time to ensure a thorough understanding of our work, our aspirations, concerns and expectations for the new space. They converted this understanding into excellent early designs and then worked diligently and responsively to modify the designs according to new information, questions from the staff and budgetary issues."