Honor Project name: Bowdoin College, Barry Mills Hall and the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies
Project overview: Mills Hall and the Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies are the newest addition to the historic campus of Bowdoin College, located in Brunswick, Maine. Conceived as a pair, the two buildings anchor the SE corner of campus, while providing a backdrop to a newly developing quadrangle.
Mills Hall is an academic building that houses several flexible classrooms, student collaborative spaces, a cinema, faculty offices, and an event space that serves both the community and the greater campus. With its chevron-shaped plan, Mills corrals an existing pine grove, providing filtered light and forest views throughout. Mills’ local red brick and copper palette is a nod to the existing fabric of academic buildings on campus.
The Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies (CAS) is a new home for the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, providing two vaulted galleries that double its existing square footage. More than a museum, the CAS is a cross-disciplinary hub dedicated to bringing Arctic research to a wider audience. The building includes an archeology lab, teaching classrooms, and a suite of offices for visiting researchers. Clad in black plank masonry, the CAS was inspired by silhouette figures from the museum’s glass lantern slide collection.
Together, Mills Hall and the CAS are rooted in place, taking cues from Bowdoin’s historic context while also showcasing the potential of innovative timber construction. These buildings not only further Bowdoin’s commitment to sustainability and environmental research, as Maine’s first commercially scaled mass timber project, they are helping galvanize a mass timber economy in Maine.
Project location: Brunswick, Maine
Firm name: HGA
Architect of Record: HGA
Completion: 2023
Jury comments: The contemporary design of this building fits quite well within the more historic buildings on campus. A simple, elegant, and well detailed clear building design, well scaled to the campus. The form, strong but spacious, in context has strength and is very appealing, as is the building’s interior materiality. There is an interesting use of precedent to create the dark building with very bright interiors.
Images/Photographer(s): Michael Moran Project or Construction Manager: Consigli Construction (Eric Bottaro) Civil Engineer: Sebago Technics (Kylie Mason) Acoustics: Accentech (Jonah Sacks) Landscaping: Stimson (Christopher Miczek)
