Brown University, Watson Institute for International Studies, Providence, Rhode Island
From Archiplanet
| Brown University, Watson Institute for International Studies | |
| Designer | Rafael Vinoly Architects PC, New York, New York, USA |
| Location | Providence, Rhode Island, USA |
| Date | 2001 |
| Street Address | 111 Thayer Street, Providence, Rhode Island, USA Walk Score |
| Notes |
Contents |
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| Building Details |
The Watson Institute evolved from Thomas J. Watson Jr.’s vision of a research and teaching center that would address the most pressing global problems of our day. It promotes the work of students, faculty, visiting scholars and policy practitioners who analyze contemporary global problems and develop initiatives to address them.
The program includes offices for researchers, an extensive library, classroom space for international relations courses, and larger conference spaces for seminars and lectures.
The latest telecommunications facilities have been designed into the building in order to integrate its staff with events occurring around the world. Initial space assessments for the new structure allowed for a significant increase in available square footage to accommodate research programs and growth in the number of visitors to the Institute.
Originally dispersed across five locations on the Brown University campus, the Watson Institute is now consolidated on a site near its center. It is the first building in a new academic quadrangle now being developed by the university. The design seeks to maximize interaction among research groups, mainly by organizing circulation in a triple height atrium that runs nearly the entire length of the block-long site and bathes the interior in natural light.
The spaces that make up the shared resources of the program are on one side of the atrium in two distinct glazed cubical volumes that characterize the back of the site. The façade fronting the street contains program spaces intended for use by a limited number of people. The atrium then becomes the common point of transfer from any one area of the building to another, bringing together the disparate constituencies that occupy the facility.
