In a significant renovation and addition to its main building, Lafayette Hall, once a bland, tired shopping mall with no clear front door, Housastonic Community College has a proud new persona in downtown Bridgeport, radically changing its relationship to the street and its place in the city’s urban fabric. A Welcome Center for new and prospective students and student enrollment services offices are located along a light-filled public concourse or “Main Street” off a new entrance lobby. The addition also serves as the access point to the College’s renowned public art museum and provides a backdrop for showcasing gems from its collection, which includes works by Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, Miro Chagall, Rodin, Klimt and Rauchenburg. Upper floors of the addition contain studio and digital art instructional spaces and general-purpose classrooms. A new landscaped courtyard creates an intimate campus outdoor social space and student lounges throughout the addition encourage community interaction and collaboration. Wrapped with a transparent glazed skin that reaches out to the city, the building invites the public to look in and encourages occupants to look back out.