Intercultural Engagement Center - University of Delaware

Location

Newark, DE

Status

Completed 2023

Size

5,200 GSF

Program

Intercultural Community Spaces, Offices for Staff and Student Groups, Training Rooms, Amenities (Interfaith Meditation, Ablution Room, Food Pantry, Clothing Closet)

Within the shell of a former counseling center that was a warren of dark rooms, The University of Delaware sought an “Intercultural Engagement Center to provide physical space for students to interact, explore, and grow together around social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.” (Jose-Luis Riera, Vice President for Student Life)

Multiple days of student group, faculty, and staff engagement sessions brought focus on a shared priority of communal space flanked by private student group rooms, staff support offices, and student amenities, including include an interfaith meditation room, ablution room, food pantry, clothing coop for wardrobe donations, kitchenette, training rooms, and a student workshop area.

Interfaith meditation room and ablution room

The team drew inspiration from non-Western architectural typologies that are less orthogonal and more communal at the core. A perforated ribbon of custom millwork wall forms an “inter-space” between the community center and student clubs, creating a series pocketed customizable spaces as the “front porches” for individual groups.

Projects

Frances M. Maguire Art Museum - St. Joseph's University

Center For Advanced Technologies - Bucks County CC

PPR Residence Hall - Swarthmore College

Discovery Center - Outward Bound & Audubon

Bigham Leatherberry Wise Place - People's Emergency Center

The Study at University City

Caesar Rodney Hall - University of Delaware

Jefferson School

Greene Street Friends School

Campus Bookstore & Development Office - University of Delaware

Margaret Passmore Trickey Building

300 Rouse

Aqua Foro

Pavilion & Children's Discovery Garden at Sister Cities Park

The Clay Studio

Class of 1986 Fitness and Wellness Center - Princeton University