Beinecke Library's translucent Vermont Montclair Danby marble facade makes a stark contrast to the red brick buildings of Berkeley College.
Photo courtesy of E. F. Prokop

Refurbishing a granite paved university quadrangle that is at the same time the roof of rare book and manuscript storage.

By M. W. Penn

In New Haven, Conn., a city known for beautiful architecture, Hewitt Quadrangle on the northern edge of Yale University's Old Campus is especially graced. The granite-paved quad is bordered by four stunning buildings: the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Commons Dining Hall, Woolsey Hall and Woodbridge Hall. Glimpses of nearby Yale Law School and Sterling Law Library are framed in side passages, and the buildings of Berkeley College can be seen to the south, the warmer stone and red brick of the last three complexes adding contrast to Hewitt Quadrangle's cool gray granite paving.

Beinecke Plaza is the section of Hewitt Quadrangle bordering the front of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, an architectural surprise along its western perimeter. The exterior of Beinecke Library is composed of translucent panels of heavily veined Vermont Montclair Danby marble slabs, 1-1/4 inches thick; the façade of the building is arranged in classic proportions, 15 panels long by 10 panels deep by five panels high, with the longest side bordering the plaza.

Designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP and constructed in 1963, Beinecke is the largest building in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books and manuscripts. The library exhibits 180,000 volumes in a central glass tower, while the remaining collection of approximately 400,000 volumes is stored in three floors of specially designed underground book stacks and work areas that extend under the plaza. In this section of the quad, a granite wall surrounds a well opening to the first level of the underlying stacks, forming a sunken courtyard enclosed by windows. The sunken courtyard contains three marble sculptures — a pyramid, circle and cube — by Isamu Noguchi, representing the earth, sun and chance, respectively. Noguchi called the sculpture court the "Garden of the Library."

A well that opens to Beinecke Library's underlying stacks forms a sunken courtyard. The courtyard contains three, white Imperial Danby marble sculptures by Isamu Noguchi.
Photo courtesy of E. F. Prokop

Moving clockwise around the perimeter of Hewitt Quadrangle, the next imposing architectural feature is the solemn beaux-art colonnade of the Yale Commons. Built at the turn of the nineteenth century to celebrate Yale's 200th birthday, Commons was the major on-campus dining facility in the decades before construction of the residential colleges. It is still a busy breakfast and lunch stop for students. Commons is connected to Woolsey Hall through Memorial Hall rotunda, a graceful domed space and a much-used pedestrian shortcut that forms the northeast corner of the quadrangle.

A grand concert hall with a seating capacity of 2,700, Woolsey Hall forms the eastern border of the quadrangle and is the venue for performances by Yale's symphony orchestras, choirs and organists, as well as for concerts presented by the many famous musicians who frequently perform at Yale. The two limestone classics, Commons and Woolsey, and the more delicate, French Renaissance Woodbridge Hall to the south are known as the Bicentennial Buildings. Woodbridge Hall is named for one of the founders of Yale and houses the administrative offices of the university president. Together, the three Centennial Buildings lend nineteenth century dignity to Hewitt Quadrangle.

Beinecke Plaza is the section of Hewitt Quadrangle that borders the front of Beinecke Library. On this portion of the plaza, the old stone was replaced with new 52-inch granite pavers from the original quarry.
Photo courtesy of E. F. Prokop

In 2003, 40 years after the construction of the Beinecke Library, the physical condition of the plaza had become a source of concern. The original roof slab of the underground library stacks was flat, with drainage designed to take place across the surface of the granite paving stones; a system of peripheral gutters outlined in contrasting Black Peribonka granite removed water from the edges. Four decades later, many of the original paving stones had been pushed out of alignment, primarily due to heavy equipment used for mechanical snow removal. The pavers and walls that surrounded the plaza were also scarred by the plows, and the Black Peribonka border was damaged in several locations.

Because of the damage, the surface was no longer impermeable. Water seeped through to the membrane that covered the flat slab roof and collected there, raising concern about the future safety of the storage and work areas below. Water was also wicking into the walls that defined the sunken courtyard. In the end, a complete renovation of the plaza was deemed necessary to prevent future damage; the work was to include redesigning the drainage system, replacing the damaged granite pavers and, at the same time, remodeling the upper portion of the quadrangle in front of the rotunda.

Though the decision to replace the roof was the primary reason for undertaking a major renovation of the plaza, other needs were also addressed during the renovation process. The quadrangle is more than a beautiful space; it serves as an important campus crossroad. The terminus for a busy college walkway and a nexus of Woolsey Hall/Commons traffic, it is an outdoor area that students and faculty use constantly. Architects and planners wanted to add to the ambiance of the space by creating a comfortable venue outside Woolsey Hall for people to pause and to congregate.

Black Peribonka was used in the original drainage system and had precedence on the plaza. The Peribonka Quarry in Quebec.
Photos courtesy of Granicor

There was also a need to improve handicap access to the central domed Memorial Hall rotunda, a busy passageway that hovers three steps above Beinecke Plaza's lower plane.

An access ramp constructed decades ago was functional but never bore the aspect of an integral part of the space. The landscape architects in charge of this aspect of the renovation, Olin Partnership of Philadelphia, instead incorporate a gentle elevation change along the eastern edge of the quadrangle into their design.

To begin the work, the surface of the plaza was removed down to the waterproofing and the substructure redesigned to become part of the drainage system. The engineering firm Simpson, Gumpertz and Hager was in charge of redesigning the system. A no-fines concrete mix, which contains voids and air spaces that allow drainage to pass through the material, was the new structural base of the plaza. Underlying sloping and catchments were configured to direct water away from the roof of the library.

	Much of the plaza's original 52-inch square pavers were quartered and resurfaced with a Gem Stone #8 finish, then reused on this upper portion of the plaza. Photo courtesy of E. F. Prokop

Once the granite was removed, 15,582 square feet of the original 52-inch square pavers were shipped to Granicor in Quebec for re-fabrication. The pavers were cleaned, quartered and resurfaced with a Gem Stone #8 finish for reuse on the upper portion of the plaza. That portion is now a pedestal system of two-foot squares placed on the diagonal and is 100 percent recycled stone. On the lower portion of the plaza, 35,000 square feet of the old stone was replaced with new 52-inch pavers from the original quarry. These paving stones also have a Gem Stone #8 finish and are slightly rougher than the original stones.

A common method of finishing granite paving stone is by flaming — heating the surface quickly to cause it to expand and explode; however, micro fissures can form during this process. Rather than using this traditional method, Gem Stone etches pavers with high-pressure, 30,000 PSI water jets. The Gem Stone process can control the roughness of the finish by both the distance of the jet to the stone and by the speed of oscillation of the slab and the jet. Additionally, water processing doesn't dull the color of the stone surface, so the rich gray and white of the stone is preserved.

Benches were constructed of four vertical segments of split-face stone: an initial stratum of Woodbury Granite is followed by a strip of Black Peribonka which forms the seat; a second strip of Woodbury is topped with a Woodbury cap.

The vast majority of the vertical wall panels were also removed, cleaned and reinstalled over a new waterproof membrane, and the stairs descending to the marble court were replaced.

To address the inevitable damage of mechanical snow removal — ploughs and shovels hitting the edges of pavers and causing the same damage that the renovation sought to repair — a snow melt system was installed. The system consists of approximately 22 miles of one-inch tubing set at three-inch intervals at the top of the concrete and beneath the setting mortar. A glycol solution runs through the tubes, fed out when the system is triggered by temperature and humidity levels. Snow on the surface melts and drains through new catchments underneath the more than 60,000 square feet of paving.

On the lower portion of the plaza the old stone was replaced with new 52-inch pavers of Woodbury Granite from the original quarry. The paving stones have a Gem Stone #8 finish and are slightly rougher than the original stones. The three Centennial Buildings and the upper plaza are in the background.

Other additions to the plaza include a pair of monumental elliptical benches on either side of the entrance to Memorial Hall and neighboring honey locust and yellowwood trees to provide shade. The benches are constructed of blocks of Woodbury Granite and Black Peribonka, incorporating materials that had precedence on the plaza. They consist of four vertical segments of split-face stone: an initial stratum of Woodbury Granite is followed by a strip of Black Peribonka; a second strip of Woodbury is topped with a Woodbury cap. The new trees are planted in the solid ground below the upper plaza, and great care was taken to insure that the root systems would remain separate from the paving. Grates span the planting trenches nine inches above the planting soil and the paving stones in this area are set above the grate. The new handicap route designed by Olin elegantly incorporates a slope gentle enough to not require handrails and forms a graceful walkway along the lower wall of Woolsey Hall.

Alexander Calder's sculpture "Gallows and Lollipops" and monumental elliptical benches add ambience to the upper portion of the plaza, a pedestal system of two-foot squares of recycled Vermont Woodbury granite.
Photo courtesy of E. F. Prokop

In a tribute to those who pioneered higher education in a new world and sought to preserve the legacy of past generations, the names of Yale's founders are inscribed just below the cornice of Woodbridge Hall. On the east side of the building, a quotation from the Aeneid reads, in translation, "They ennobled life through the arts and made others mindful of them," a fitting sentiment to grace the newly transformed outdoor plaza and to the pro-active restoration project.

References
Charney Architects
1140 Chapel St.
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 773-5057
info@charneyarchitects.com

Granicor
300 rue de Rotterdam
Saint-Augustin de Desmaures, Quebec G3A 1T4
Canada
(418) 878-3530
Fax: (418) 878-3208
www.granicor.com
Ed Zimmerman, U.S. Sales Manager
(352) 326-8139

Olin Partnership
Public Ledger Building, Suite 1123
150 South Independence Mall West
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 440-0030
Fax: (215) 440-0041
www.olinptr.com

Harold Roth
Roth & Moore Architects
65 Audubon St.
New Haven, CT 06510
(203) 787-1166

Glimpses of nearby Yale Law School and Sterling Law add contrast to Hewitt Quadrangle's cool gray Vermont Woodbury granite paving.
Photo courtesy of E. F. Prokop

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