URochester / Hutchison Hall

Hutchison Hall Renovation

Hutchison Hall is a 270,00 GSF science building built in the early 1970’s for Chemistry, Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences. William Wilson Architects in conjunction with Behnisch Architekten planned and programmed the phased renovation of the building. Having completed phased renovations of science buildings at Vanderbilt, UNC Chapel Hill and Harvard, the unique issues of renovating an occupied science building are key to a successful design. Hutchison will be vacated in halves, and the first half will be repurposed for science and engineering teaching, and the second half will be repurposed for research – intensive labs, including chemical engineering, and a vivarium.

The phasing allows one half of the building to remain in service while the other half is fully remodeled, and then the second half is vacated and remodeled. The goal is to achieve a gut renovation including the infrastructure, and the exterior envelope, and giving the building a new social life.