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Kite's solution is ingenious. Rather than obliterate the volume, he weaves new classroom and lecture hall facilities within the shell, carefully holding them back from the existing brick walls. In fact, you can still read the building's original two-story volume through Kite's sensitive insertion.

The Lecture Hall

Nowhere is this better seen than in a new lecture hall on the first floor, and in new classroom spaces on the second. The lecture hall occupies the north end of the building's "fat-L" plan. Kite arrayed raked seating across the width of the double-height space, while the back wall is dominated by a freestanding structure housing audio/visual and mechanical equipment.

Wavy perforated metal panels aid the room's acoustics yet appear to float off of the brick walls. The lectern end of the hall is tucked under a volume that thrusts into the two-story space, providing a protected precinct for the lecturer with chalk boards as a back-drop.

Overhead, a canopy of perforated metal panels extends out toward the first few rows of seats, helping with sound projection. The seats are carefully laid out so that the first three rows are separated from the rest of the seating by an elegant stainless steel railing that defines an intimate area for smaller lecture groups. Four steel columns supporting the second-story structure form the boundaries of this cozy lecture area within the larger hall.

At the opposite end of this wing, where it intersects with the other wing, is a vertical circulation core and a welcoming common lounge area with comfortable seating. Here students can more fully appreciate the building's previous incarnation as a gymnasium, thanks to a wall-sized vintage photo of the space filled with exercise equipment and the long-gone curved running track.

A second-floor volume with a curved wall juts out over the common space, creating a seating nook demarcated by steel columns. The two-story gym space flows up and around this second-story element in a rich spatial broth. The new maple floor in the common lounge is painted with basketball court lines — a light-hearted echo of the building's past.

The New Second Floor

Kite's most inventive creation of new space in this old building is found on the second floor, hints of which we've already seen from the first level. To either side of the circulation core, Kite created a classroom and a seminar room that appear as two gable-roofed houses of space within the gym's larger volume.   >>>

The south elevation of Smith-Buonanno Hall at Brown University. The Providence firm of William Kite Architects has won an AIA Honor Award for the renovation. Photo: Warren Jagger Photography Second-floor bridge into the stairwell. Photo: Warren Jagger Photography The new second floor was built away from the existing wall to preserve the historic fabric. Photo: Warren Jagger Photography Ground floor plan, Smith-Buonanno Hall. Image: William Kite Architects First floor plan, Smith-Buonanno Hall. Image: William Kite Architects Second floor plan, Smith-Buonanno Hall. Image: William Kite Architects Longitudinal section, looking south. Image: William Kite Architects Section looking north. Image: William Kite Architects   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.