The Hinman Research Building at the Georgia Institute of Technology flexibly served the schools of  engineering  and  earth  sciences  as  a  classroom  facility and  as  a  center  for  full-scale  research,  experimentation, and   prototyping.   At   its   core   is   an   open,   50-foot   tall industrial  high-bay  shed,  which  is  illuminated  by  rows  of large  clerestory  windows  above  and  flanked  to  the  north and  south  by  office  and  classroom  wings. 

As    architects    responsible    for    interior    fit-out    and renovation  at  the  Hinman  Research  Building,  our  team had  to  perform  the  seemingly  antithetical  duties  of  both preservationist    and    interventionist.    Vested    interests required that the building be rehabilitated in keeping with the ideals the earlier school, in order that it serve as a pedagogical example. It was also required that this rehabilitation be brought up to current  requirements as  they  pertain  to  current  building  codes  addressing  its structure, life safety, accessibility, acoustics, and lighting features.  The  task  presented  a  unique  methodological question: how can we build on the past while also building for the future? Unsatisfied  with  subservience,  and  facing rigorous    programmatic,    scheduling,    and    budgetary constraints,  we  leveraged  updated  code  requirements
in  tandem  with  the  new  program  to  inform  sensitive interventions  that  tap  into  the  building’s  potential  and expand the building’s functional æsthetic.

Practitioners  of  architectural  judo,  our  team  adapted well   to   always   changing   circumstances,   redirecting already  existing  forces  with  elegance  and  economy: repurposing  the  attributes  of  the  existing  building  to form  new  functional  alliances,  semantic  readings,  and inventive uses.

This project won a “Citation” in the 2011 P/A awards.