Emory Media Lab at Oxford College
Georgia Tech Design Studio / 2012 / Oxford, GA / supervised by Robin Lackey
Emory University’s new learning center lies on the west end of a grassy quad on the Oxford, GA campus. The project seeks to bring modernity and technology to a historic campus while responding to the scale and appearance of the site’s historic surroundings.
The dense foliage limits views across the campus to corridors along the main walking paths. The building's roofline and the thin piloti that support it responds to these paths, rising to peaks that match the geometry of the neighboring classical temple facades when approached from the north-east or south-east.
The interior program was strictly dictated by university needs and hosts educational, administrative, and service spaces for a variety of arts and media programs. The ground level holds the most public spaces, including a cafe, a theater, and the entrance to the gallery tower. The second level holds the studios, classrooms, and offices as well as as a large central space adjacent to the gallery for student exhibitions and reviews. Specific views are framed from the spaces to the forest and historic buildings outside reminding users of the natural and architectural beauty of the campus around them.
The terra cotta facade screen shades the large glazing panels and varies in density to create privacy for the interior spaces or open specified viewing corridors to the exterior. The material's natural shades soften the visual impact of a such a modern structure on the surrounding palate of rugged, brown tree trunks and heavy, red brick buildings.